Jesus and Children

The special music there, young people doing that. Appreciate the young men helping out also, really added to it. You know, special music when we have the little children perform is always very special. It's just that. You know, in Hawaii, we had just adorable little kids up on stage. It's amazing how sometimes the little ones forget where they are. You know, there were two little girls that were on the stage in Hawaii, and they forgot where they were, and they started shoving each other. So, I noticed that everybody was well ordered here for our music, and I thought, well, nice. We've taught them nice here, haven't we? They really act proper. But anyway, we had a wonderful feast. Hope you did. We had a surprise of about 100 more over in Maui than we thought we were going to have. That's always nice, especially because the auditorium's a little larger. So, we pretty much filled up the auditorium, and we sure did make a lot of merchants happy because we were in town. So, I could see in some of the fellows there at the Maui Theater, when they thought of our people coming to the theater, they could see dollar signs in their eyes. But anyway, I don't know how many finally went to their show there. But we had just a wonderful feast, and the reports coming from all over it has been the same. One of the joys, the real joys of life is to see a newborn grow and develop through the stages of life. Thankfully, I've been able to see each of our boys born, and to see just every stage of their life, as they've grown into adulthood. And it's been a tremendous joy for my wife and myself to be able to see that and to be there with them each step along the way. And hopefully, of course, we'll be there a bit longer as well. We can see them at least get into the latter stages of their lives. At least I'd like to see our boys grow into the 70s and 80s and maybe 90s or around there. And see them, I'm sure they're adorable when they're 90. But isn't it a thing that is really a wonderful experience to see that? Well, Jesus loves children. And one of the most touching scenes, I think, for the life of Jesus was when he used a little child to teach his disciples lessons.

Let's go over to Matthew 18 and see one place where this occurred. Of course, Mr. Orom touched upon other places where he took children and taught the disciples through them as object lessons. But let's notice here in Matthew 18 in verses 1-3 in this passage, it says, And at that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, And so here these were young men who were playing king of the hill, who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven here. And it says, What was Jesus Christ saying to them here? You know, for all who would be true disciples of Jesus Christ, there are valuable lessons to be gleaned from this passage right here. Why did Jesus use a child? Why did he set a child in their midst and use a child as an illustration to teach the disciples about conversion?

Conversion.

Isn't that what it's about in verse 3 here? He says, You know, consider, brethren, a child. Now, again, we're talking about the subject of conversion here.

A child has very little knowledge. A child has a mind which is yet developing. They're not in adulthood, obviously. They're very immature and very childish. You know, when you see a child act childish, it doesn't surprise you, does it, when they're that way?

And a child has very limited ability to reason.

And so, why did Jesus Christ use a child as an example of conversion?

Is that what conversion is? Having very little knowledge, having a mind that is yet developing, being inbature and childish, or having limited reasoning capability?

Is that what conversion is? But Jesus Christ used the child to teach about conversion.

Without conversion, there can be no salvation, Jesus was telling them.

Unless you were converted and become like this little child, you will know and by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven. So, without conversion, there is no salvation. Without conversion, there are no sins that are forgiven.

There are no sins that are wiped away.

Let's go over to Acts 3 and notice what Peter says over here in Acts chapter 3, just to quickly point out that what I'm saying is that exactly what is said in the Bible in Acts 3 and verse 19, we're told over here, here Peter was talking and he says, repent therefore and be converted. In other words, go through this conversion that your sins may be blotted out.

Because if we are not converted, then we're not going to have our sins blotted out. And if our sins are not blotted out, then we are going to not have salvation. We will not have salvation.

And really what happens when people are not converted is when they are baptized, they go down dry centers and they come up wet ones.

And their life doesn't change at all. Now, I've had a lot of people through the years that have asked me to baptize them.

And in many cases, they want to be baptized, but they don't want to change.

They don't want to change what they do. And in effect, of course, what they would be doing is simply getting wet and nothing more. But repentance, brethren, is necessary for us, and conversion means to change in order for us to blot our sins out for God to do that by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Let's go to Colossians 2 and verse 11. Let's pause a little bit here in talking about children and talk about conversion. What conversion is? Notice over here in Colossians 2 what the Apostle Paul says over here. And Paul, of course, was one that had to make a lot of changes in his life. But in Colossians 2 and verse 11, it says, Speaking of Christ, You were also circumcised with circumcision made without hands. You know, this is a circumcision not of the flesh, but of the heart. By putting off the body of sins of the flesh. Another way of saying that would be the old man. You put off that old man here. And by the circumcision of Christ. And it says, So the old man is buried in a baptismal pool in which you were also raised, or you were resurrected with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. And so the old man is put to death, that old body of sin. And so that is the process, again, of conversion. And conversion begins at baptism. It begins, in fact, before that time, because you have to have an attitude of repentance beforehand, and bring forth fruits meat for repentance, or worthy for repentance, before baptism. And what happens, you are baptized, and then you continue to repent even after baptism. And you continue to change, and you change, in fact, up until the day you die. That is what it means. That you really don't arrive until you're changed at the resurrection, out of this flesh, and you become perfected at the time when we become like Christ and will be Spirit-composed. Let's go to Titus 3. Titus chapter 3. Now, stay with me, brethren, on this, because it's very important as we lay this foundation here of conversion. Conversion is what Jesus Christ is talking about here. Titus 3. So, let's look over here and see what Paul says to Brother Titus. In verse 4, he talked about how that, But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. So, he talked about baptism here, brethren. That when we are baptized, that we are being saved as a result of that by the renewing of the Holy Spirit. And that Spirit, by the way, must be renewed day by day. We are not reservoirs for the Holy Spirit, but we, you might say, are like tubes and channels through which the Holy Spirit actually goes through and comes out of the form of good works to us. And so, what happens is our minds are made new through conversion as God's Holy Spirit works with us. And you know, when God started working with you, when he works with anybody that has been called into the church, he starts something in us, and we're letting him work in us. It works if we work it, like the song goes. If we allow God to keep working in us, you know, Paul said in Philippians 1.6, he said being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. That he keeps working in you from the time, again, that you begin to repent, and when you're baptized and when you become converted and you keep changing in your life, he works with you until Jesus Christ returns or until, you know, you die. And then you wait in the grave with all the saints for the time of the resurrection. You know, and it's a lifelong process, to say the least. But God works with us, and he continues working with us and in us. Now, I've been in the church now for, well, since 1968, 43 years, coming to 44 next year. And, of course, you repent before that.

You just don't get baptized one day. What happens? You've got to study, don't you? And you start learning, and you start changing your life, and you have those long talks with God down by the creek, or wherever it is that you did it before you committed your life to God. So it didn't just happen in 1968. It started long before that. There are others whose journey has been much longer than mine has been. Many here that have been around that length of time and know what I'm talking about. But it's a lifelong thing. We lost Mr. Busshart, partway through during the feast. He dedicated his life to serving God, and he worked at it until the day he died. I know. I went down. I talked to him. He wanted to talk about some things, and we talked about it. But he worked until he died. We want to make sure things were squared away. All of us do, don't we? We want to make sure that when we die, when we pass on, that we're right with God, that we're ready to move forward. But he knew God worked with him right until the very end.

Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 5.

In verse 23, we're going to see Mr. Busshart again. We're going to see, this is Martin again. We're going to see all of those people that have gone to wait until the time of the resurrection ahead. But that process was going on in them until they died. For us, it will go on until Christ returns if we live that long. Hope that we do. Hope we're there. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 23. It says, Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, set you apart completely. Can we let God work with us long enough that he can do it completely here? And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. So God is going to be faithful in working with you, brethren, and with me until the day of our death or the day that Jesus Christ returns so that we can enter on in to the kingdom of God. Now my question for you, brethren, is have you been submitting to the work of God in your life so that you can be truly converted? Have you been doing that? You know, I asked myself that question about myself. Have I been devoting the time to it the way that I should and the manner I should? You know, Jesus used a child, though, to illustrate what is necessary for us to be converted. He talked about the sort of humility one must have. The Apostle Paul later in Philippians used Jesus Christ as an example of humility, a great humility. Here Jesus Christ was the acme of power. He was the God who created all humankind and all angelic beings. The whole universe was through Christ that everything was created and made. He became the most tremendous example of humility that anybody could ever be.

Paul in Philippians, I'm not going to go there now, but we will later on, said, let this mind, the mind that was in Jesus Christ, be in you. So humility, brethren, is necessary for each of us. But let me describe a little bit more about what kind of humility we're talking about here. Let's go back to Matthew 18.

It's more than just a temporary humble experience. It's more than that. It's what Jesus did himself. It's a life of humility. That's the kind of life that Jesus Christ led in the example he set for us. In Matthew 18 now, verse 4, he says, Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself. This word, by the way, humble, that is used here in the Strong's concordance, the word means in the Greek, it means to depress.

In the form of like pressing yourself down, it means to figuratively to humiliate. Humiliate. You ever been humiliated since you've been called, brethren? You ever been in a position of being humiliated? You know, what would you do if you were humiliated? Maybe you've already been humiliated, and you know what I'm talking about. Well, frankly, brethren, if you haven't been humiliated about every year of your conversion, you may not be doing everything right. Personally, I have to say I've been humiliated more times than I care to even mention. And I suspect that Jesus Christ certainly was one who was humiliated every turn of life.

So we don't hold a candle to what Jesus Christ went through in his life. But it means to humiliate in condition or heart to a base to bring low to humble yourself. You're humbling yourself. You know, when you have that attitude, that attitude of humility, brethren, you're willing to put up with anything to be in the kingdom of God.

If you don't have that humble attitude, brethren, the first opposition you face, you're going to run the other way. And so you have to have that attitude of humility that he's talking about here, brethren, a willingness to suffer humility if need be. If it has to be that way. You know, we don't have an attitude, in other words, of, well, boy, you humiliated me.

You made me look silly. I'm taking my marbles and I'm going home. I'm taking my little rag wagon and going back home. You just can't have that attitude in the church. And to be called to what God is calling us to, brethren, because Jesus Christ experienced humility in a way that no one ever did. You know, they spit in his face. They did horrible things to Jesus Christ here.

The Creator of all things, beautiful. They did despicable things to Jesus Christ. And so we have to humble ourselves like a little child. You know, little children have several kinds of qualities which endear us to them. You know, who can look at a little child and not smile? I mean, really. A small child, it just makes you want to laugh.

It's like, you know, was it Carter up here? Or was it Demetrius? I can't remember which one. But Mr. Rorm looked at him and he had this big smile on his face. I mean, you just have to laugh at the things that kids do, you know. They make you smile. They make you feel good in so many ways. And the reason is because children, little children, are so tender, aren't they?

Especially little girls. They're so tender and fragile. Little boys are too. But, you know, children are so tender and they're so meek. You know, a child is so tender that even if you make a loud noise around them, or like this, you see an infant, you know, if the loud noise takes place, I don't know, some of you old people might be that way too. But especially little kids, you know, are that way.

I say, you old people, I've got to be careful. And that's not because you're going to kill me afterwards, it's because I'm knocking on that myself a little bit. Not quite. You know, I'll be 40 next week. But, you know, children are so tender and so meek. When Stephen was around three, I remember, he's our middle boy, we took him to see grandpa and grandma.

And they lived in Oklahoma on a little farm, you know, out in the country. And my mother at the time, she had these kittens. And you know how kittens, you know, kids love animals. They really do. And you know, so Stephen loved those animals. He loved those little kittens. And he would just pet them, and you'd have to teach him, now Stephen, make sure that you don't pet them too hard. You know, sometimes kids want to pet a kitten too hard, you know.

But then he learned to be very gentle with a cat. And when you think you've taught him to be gentle with a cat, you know, you can leave him alone. Well, the next time we see him, he's got the cat by the head, around the neck, and walking around the yard. And he had the cat also like this, and he would sort of walk, and little kid like this with a cat.

But he loved the cat, you know. But so tender, the way that little children are. You know, children are so lowly and meek. Of course, you know, everybody they see is towering above them, and are giants. You know, I wonder what sometimes we look like to kids, you know. I've forgotten, frankly. I know when I was growing up, I thought everybody that was over about 20 was an old person.

You know, and 30 was, I mean, you were about ready to die, you know, on the way to death's door. And 50 was Grandpa, you know. But a little child looks up, everybody looks, you know, big to them.

I remember when I was a teenager, I went into Fort Smith, Arkansas. I had to do some dental work. And I went to this old-timey doctor on Garrison Avenue in Fort Smith, Arkansas. And he gave me the gas. You ever had the gas before? And then he gave the shot, you know, you give the shots and everything. I don't want to tell you the gore of everything.

But anyway, what was so funny is that when he gave me the shots, and he gave me the gas to sort of put me under a little bit, you know, every time he came up to work on my tooth, his nose got big. It was really big. And his eyes, you know, because he was wearing glasses, and his eyes would get big. And then he would back up and he looked more normal. I wonder if we looked that way to little kids.

You know, little kids looking at, you know, what are you? Anyway, who are you? You know, we went down to see our grandchildren down in Phoenix, you know, Shawn's and Mary's children, and Stephen's and Melanie's son, you know, down there. But we walked into Shawn's and Mary's house, and the little grandkids, Phineas and Seth and Isaac, were sitting there.

But especially Phineas and Seth were real small. They had these big, dull eyes, you know, looking up at us. And you could see in their eyes, you know, who in the world are you? You know, so, you know, they were just so tender, little guys.

But, you know, we love them, and they're very, very much adorable. But that's what we like about kids. We love kids because of this. And God wants us, brethren, to have this tenderness, this meekness about us as well, because this is a very special thing. I'm not going to go to Romans 12 and verse 3, but you might want to write it down. But it says, "'For I say, through the grace that given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.'" Don't think of yourself.

You know, Paul is saying, more highly than you ought to think. You know, we should look upon ourselves, you know, in a very lowly manner. We should be meek. You know, we should have a tenderness about ourselves. You know, little children also have other qualities, but little children tend to be obedient. They tend to be obedient. Now, I know when they get older, they may not be that way. But who do they learn that from? They learn it from us, don't they?

You know, being disobedient. But children tend to be responsive as well. You know, little kids get excited about just about anything, you know. You could pull out an envelope and you could entertain them, you know. You could take a rubber band and you could do it. You know, so they are responsive to most anything. A little child is like a clean slate when they're born. It's like a blackboard, you know, some of your teachers, you know, the blackboard, you wipe it off.

That's the way a kid is. They're empty. And we write on that blackboard. And what they do is they mirror exactly what you've taught them and what I've taught our children. I remember when Sean was, I think he was probably two years of age.

We were living down in Alabama. I remember the story and my wife doesn't, by the way. But anyway, we had taught Sean that from the very early age that we don't smoke. But God teaches us not to smoke and to destroy our bodies. Well, we went to a Hardee's restaurant, you know, Hamburger Joint down in Alabama. Anyway, there was another couple that came in and they ordered and they sat down near us. And they started eating their order, their hamburgers. And after they had eaten their hamburgers, they took out cigarettes and they lit up and they started smoking. Now, this is a long time ago when smoking wasn't even cancerous.

Just kidding about that. People smoked in restaurants all the time back in those days. But anyway, what happened is Sean turned around to that couple and he looked at them and he said, God says you shouldn't smoke. Of course, we had to apologize and explain that we're trying to teach you to be healthy and all of that.

But, you know, he turned into a regular little evangelist there and he was ready to start preaching. So they tend to be responsive and obedient and they will do what you teach them to do. And also the thing about children, too, is they are amazed by the wonder of God's creation. You ever seen a little baby? You know, when a baby is beginning to discover things, it's like they'll take a little piece of fuzz and look at it. And, you know, they just look every way at that. They're sticking their tongue out and you wonder, what in the world are you seeing with those eyes of yours?

And then, of course, the discovery. Finally, they discover their toes. And they try to suck their toes. They wonder if that's the thing we should do with toes. They're not sure. Should we walk or should we eat them? So, you know, everything's a discovery. You know, there was a little boy that was eight years of age and his father was going to take him on a long trip around the world. And he bought him a diary. And he told him, he said, when we go around, you can write about the things that you do. You know, when we show you all these things. And so he took him to New York, showed him the Empire State Building. And he looked at the boy and the boy didn't write anything in the diary. And then they went overseas. They went to the Eiffel Tower. Saw this big tower in Paris, you know. And he thought this would be really, really impressive to him. And the little boy didn't write anything in his diary. They saw the pyramids. They saw the Taj Mahal. And still the little boy wrote nothing in the diary. And the dad finally coming home decided, well, we're going to go see the Grand Canyon.

And so they go and they see the Grand Canyon and they saw just this wide castle two miles across. And they went out to the very edge of the canyon and looked down. It was a mile down. And the little boy leaned over and spit into the canyon. And afterwards, his father could see him. He was writing something in his diary. And the father was just, he wanted to find out what in the world did he write in his diary. So that night he got a flashlight, went into his room, and looked at the page where the little boy had written, Today I spit a mile.

You know, it is amazing what kids are impressed by, you know.

You know, we took our son Stephen and Melanie to see Muir Woods, and on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge, I'm sure all of you have been there to see that. But also little Joseph was with us. But as we entered the walkway, as you go in before you begin to see the tall redwoods that are there, he looked up and saw these big redwoods, and I'll tell you, he was like nine months old, and he was just enthused. I mean, he started stiffing it up, and he was like, I'm home! You know, I'm in the place I should be. And I was so impressed by that. I thought, you know, I didn't get excited that way when I saw these the first time. But we lose that, don't we? We lose that kind of energy that they have, the wonder of God's creation, how beautiful things are. We should be like that when we're 98, thinking about the wonder of God's creation. Another thing about a little child is they are sincere and they are real, aren't they? What you see is what you get, and you might get most anything. You know, how many times? I know with our children, sometimes they want to, you know, let's just say, make an appearance without the proper clothing at the most inappropriate times. You know, it won't embarrass anybody sitting here. But, no, you don't know who I'm talking about.

Another thing about little children is they have a pure heart, don't they? A pure heart. And they're true believers. How many times have parents taught their kids about Santa Claus and little kids believe it? They want to believe everything, you tell them.

And that's why it's such a bad thing to teach kids about lives like Santa Claus and, you know, trying to teach them about Halloween and things like that, you know, that are so false and contrary to God's way of life. You know, you don't know why anybody would want to teach their kids about witches and orlocks and, you know, things like that.

But people do it. But, you know, God wants us, rather, to have these qualities of tenderness, of meekness, of obedience, of responsiveness, of being aware of the wonder of God's creation, to be sincere, to be real, to be pure of heart and true believers. You know, over in Titus 1 and verse 15, let's go to Titus 1 and verse 15. Notice again what Paul says to Brother Titus over here. In verse 15, it says, "'To the pure all things are pure.'" You know, if we get our minds defiled by this world, it's hard to see things the same way anymore. And so God wants us to keep us spotted from the world. Verse 15 here in Titus 1, it says, "'But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but even their mind and their consciousness is defiled.'" So God wants us to not be affected and spotted by this world and the world's way, so that our minds become polluted by it.

We might call it brain pollution, that this world has to offer so much that is not going to help us to improve ourselves, that is going to diminish us. You know, it's not going to help us to increase and grow, but it's going to hurt us. So these are qualities that kids have. Now, let's notice in the Bible what God says to us as adults, mature, within the Scriptures, that God wants us to be over in Colossians 3. In verse 10, let's just notice what God says here. He's talking about, in verse 10, about putting on the new man. And it says, "'Who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.'" In verse 11, "'Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all in all.'" In other words, among God's people, brethren, there are no colors. We are all one body, as we understand.

You think about a little child, a little child when he plays. He doesn't care what the other child's skin, what color the skin is, does it? He doesn't think about that. Well, brethren, we should not carry around and bear prejudice, either. You know, we ought to be people that do not, again, look down on other people, other races. But we should uphold all people and all men, doing no one harm. Going on, verse 12, let's notice here, we begin to see, again, the qualities of children that God wants to be in us. "'Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies kindness and humility.'" So, in other words, we should be tender in how we deal with people. Put on tender mercies, kindness, as he's talking about here, humility. And then he mentions meekness as well, the way little children are, and long suffering, as it says, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. You know, if anyone has a complaint against another, as it says, and even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. You know, you think about little children. They can have a disagreement with each other. They can be fighting one minute, and the next minute, they're playing with each other.

But I know of people that have grudges against people that last a lifetime, has lasted a lifetime.

I know of a woman that had a grudge against her mother. She didn't want to even have her mother know she died.

There can be such a hatred that is there that someone bears.

But, you know, we ought to be forgiving of other people, not bearing a grudge against someone else. The world's going to change a great deal when Christ begins to set up shop and the kingdom is set up, isn't it?

We're going to see an end to what is happening over in the Middle East, where here Israel is getting isolated right now. You see the news and what is happening in Tunisia, what's happening in Libya, you know, in Egypt.

I forget who it was. It recently said that Israel is being isolated, and it really is. You know, the Arab Spring, we're going to find that probably is going to be the worst thing that has ever happened to Israel. Of course, it might be all prophecy, and to an end, it's going to be a fulfillment of what God has said in His Word.

But Christ said again, we must forgive, and in the world of moral, they're going to have to do that.

But He says, but above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. You know, the one thing about a little child, too, is when you teach them how to kiss, they want to kiss everybody. You ever notice that? And when they kiss, they don't kiss you per se. Say, their lips slide over you. You know, they've got the slobber that's on it very often, and they just slide.

There's no pucker, no suction, and they kiss everybody.

So, little children are that in a way. Now, I'm not advocating that for us as adults doing that, but I'm just saying that they love everybody.

They love everyone, unless it's your spouse. Obviously, that's okay to do that, although they may not like the slurpy kisses, you know, like that.

But Christ had to tell the disciples that God was looking for something different in those who were going to be in His kingdom.

Jesus told His disciples, He said, Unless you are converted, Rev. Standard Version says, except you turn.

The Greek and the strong says, unless you twist, that is, turn right around or reverse, and become as little children you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

You've got to twist around, and you've got to change. You know, He told His disciples, or you're not going to be there. Now, remember, they had been arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God.

And they were making a serious infraction.

Let's go to Matthew 18.

In Matthew 18, verse 5, let's notice some other things about this instruction that Jesus gave over here.

Matthew 18, verse 5, He says, Now, what does that tell you, brethren, about what Jesus Christ just said about little children?

What does that tell you? What it tells you is He takes it personally.

In other words, if we misguide a little one, a parent, or an example of a member within the church, you know, that is a serious infraction.

A serious infraction.

And so Jesus takes it personally because He loves children, but also He means this in a spiritual sense in referring to someone who is a little one in the faith.

So He takes it personally if we impact a child or someone who is small or little in the faith.

One of the brethren. If we impact them negatively.

In verse 6, He points out, in fact, how serious He considers it.

He says, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin.

That is to break My law, to sin.

Now that could be a child, a small child, but definitely would include someone who is new in the faith to go and do something that they should not do.

It would be better for Him if a millstone were hung around His neck and He was drowned in the depths of the sea.

To me, one of the most scary thoughts is to drown.

That would be a terrible kind of death to me.

Of course, at this point in time, I'm not wanting any kind of death at all.

But that, especially, is a terrifying thing to think about.

And so it's a very serious thing in the mind of Christ, of placing a stumbling block in front of a small one who is a child, or somebody who is young in the faith.

But the disciples have been arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God, and that was a clear infraction of this.

They clearly had broken this.

What would it have done to someone who was coming along to begin to see that Jesus was the Messiah?

Had they seen the disciples arguing about this, and a decision, a dissension with one another? What would it do to them?

Would it? I think it was me. I would say, I don't think I want to have anything to do with these people.

They don't even seem to have it together themselves.

Brethren, I have to tell you, in saying this, that I think we in the Church have made a very grave error in this regard.

I know I realize that some things we cannot avoid, cannot avoid doing.

But, brethren, we have made a serious infraction as a Church with regard to this and the recent problems that we had within the Church.

I mean it on both sides.

We need to go to God, each of us individually, and ask God's forgiveness for the example that we've set for somebody who's new in the faith.

I feel like, brethren, that that is something that the Church as a whole needs to do.

And I'm sure that many, if not all, of God's people are thinking about that in that manner.

I know, brethren, we have had to stand for the faith and for the truth, but it's just a horrible thing that people in the world have to see that.

You know, they have to see the conflict between any of us at any time.

But notice going on, it says, Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes.

And if your hand or your foot cause you to stand, cut it off and cast it from you. It's better for you to enter into the life lame or bamed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

And if your eye causes you to sit, pluck it out and cast it from you. It's better for you to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

And then he says in verse 10, Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones. You make sure you do not do that.

To be very careful about this.

In verse 11, I wanted to mention here, It says, For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.

That's why Jesus came.

That's why Jesus Christ came as the Messiah, to save that which was lost. He came to save us. He came to save them at that time.

He came to save our children.

He came to rescue us, brethren, from this world and this society.

And, brethren, if we were contrary to that, we're working contrary to Christ and we're going to destroy.

And so it's so important to remember what Jesus' mission is and what our mission is as well, brethren.

So we need to have all of us, that humility of Jesus Christ that Jesus had. We need to have the humility of a child to listen and to learn what Jesus is saying to us. Jesus Christ has this saying to us. Can we be moldable, brethren, as a child to learn the lessons necessary for us to be saved?

You know, when I talk about, when we talk about, you know, having humility of a child, this is not to say that we are not to mature.

That's not to say that at all. But I think there's a little bit of another truth in what Jesus says here in Matthew 18 that I haven't seen before in the same way.

Maybe you have, maybe you're, you know, light years away ahead of me in these things.

But I think there's another point here. You may have heard the story about that there was a person who came to the door of one of the ministers down in Pasadena many years ago.

I won't get into the specifics of it.

But anyway, the person came to the door and the little child of one of the ministers answered the door. And, you know, the visitor, you know, upon the opening of the door by the little child, you know, told the child that they wanted to see his father.

And that the person was there to see the dad of the house.

Well, the little child led the person to the back of the house into the master bedroom and into the bath where the father was taking a shower.

And obviously the dad was shocked by this, as you would be, you know, anybody would be.

And anyway, after the visitor had left, the father asked the young child, why did you bring that guest all the way back into the bathroom?

And the little child said, well, they were in the church.

That was their answer, you know, the little kids answered with that. Well, they were in the church.

You know, sometimes children, you know, parents will talk about, you know, that you can be open with people who are in the church, but people may not in the church.

You can't be as open with about different things because they're not in the church.

Well, she thought, well, they were in the church. You could be just open about it. Now, I use this story, brethren, for two reasons. Number one, the actions of the little child were understandable.

Would you agree with that? I mean, this is what a little kid's going to do.

You know, someone is a small child, they don't know any better, and they're going to do something like that.

But number two, the actions of the guest were not understandable. Would you agree with that?

As a guest, they should have stopped at the door, you know, and not gone in, or asked the little girl or little boy to go and get the pot.

You know, so on the one hand, I think the little child shows and demonstrates what we expect.

But on the other hand, the guest showed that there was a need for more maturity on their part.

You know, you don't let little kids lead you around to do things that you shouldn't do.

And we all understand that, right? Don't we? That we shouldn't let little kids lead us to do things that we should not do.

Jesus expects children to be immature. You know, we try to teach our children, by the way, to be mature, don't we?

We try to instruct them. We try to show them what the proper conduct is. We try to do that as parents.

But, you know, sometimes they're going to be, guess what? Children. And they're going to do things that are not so mature, maybe downright immature.

But Jesus expects children to be immature. And guess what? He also expects somebody who is new in the faith to be immature.

You follow what I'm saying? He expects that.

And if you've been in the church a long time, and you're this old, craggy, 50, 60-year-old member of the church, you know, you've got a long beard, long white beard, you know, and I'm just trying to embellish a little bit.

But, you know, if you've been around a long time, God expects you to be mature. He expects us to be mature.

But if you've been around for a little while, there's an expectation that somebody's not going to be. So we have to be careful what we do, you know, unless we also commit the infraction that the disciples did.

I think there's that lesson in that. And so, as God's people, we have to have the humility of a child, and we have to have the maturity of Jesus Christ.

Humility of a child, and the maturity of Jesus Christ. Christ had both. He had both.

The Creator of all things, great, you know, had everything, brethren.

Let's go to Philippians 2. Philippians 2.

Philippians 2. You know, this passage of Scripture here, brethren, I've read over and over again, and I'm sure you have as well. There's so much here.

But here in verse, let's just begin in verse 5, after he talked about that, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or vain conceit or glorious, loneliness of mind that we ought to have and esteem for others. He said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. As we know in the Greek, that means he emptied himself, and he stepped down from all power that he had in heaven and earth.

And it says, in taking the form of a bondservant, not just a man, but a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

And so Jesus Christ set an example, a tremendous example of humility, but on the other hand, brethren, he set a tremendous example of maturity as well.

He did not think himself, though, above others. He did not consider him better than anybody else. Brethren, and we, as God's people, need to be of like mind with Jesus Christ, because we need that, brethren, to have salvation. Unless we humble ourselves like Christ, frankly, we're not going to mature to become like Christ.

We won't become like Christ, because that's very, very necessary. The humility causes us to mature to become like Christ. This almost sounds ironic, doesn't it? But it's true.

You know, there's a lot for each of us to learn, brethren. There's a lot for us to apply in what Jesus Christ was teaching in Matthew 18 and what he taught the disciples about, you know, the humility of a child and how we need to become converted. And as we learn, brethren, let's put the things that we learn in practice. Don't hesitate to do it. Knowledge is of no value unless it's applied. If you don't put it into practice, you might as well have never learned it. God is not giving it to us for just, you know, appearances sake, but he has it for a purpose of our changing and overcoming as we become more and more converted. And over a period of time, God expects you and me to be mature. He does. I don't know what the call-up date is. I frankly don't know. How long can you be in the church before you consider to be not a little one? God is the one that makes that determination. I don't know. I suspect that there have been people who have been in the church for 30 years who are still little ones, and it may be because of a lack of application. Hopefully none of us are in that position. But, brethren, God is the one that determines that. But we have to, again, know that God has the expectation of us that we would have that humility and we would have also that maturity as we grow and as we develop. The words of Jesus should motivate us to take our children seriously, to not take them for granted. For parents to realize how important it is to bring your children up in the nurture and the admonition of God. And for all of us, brethren, that we ought to be better role models, that we should be better examples, and that we should realize, brethren, that God holds us accountable. Hopefully our example is good. And not that it will be where God is going to condemn us, but He will praise us for being examples to those who are younger than us physically and maybe also spiritually. Brethren, if we are to enter the kingdom of God, we must heed the necessity of being converted. So, brethren, let the example of a childlike trust and humility be a guide to us as we mature into the fullness and measure and stature of Jesus Christ.