Matthew 18:1-6 (NKJV)
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.
6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Today is Children’s Sunday. Today we get to celebrate with our children the finishing of Sunday school and though we don’t have time to go over all they have learned, we will experience a little of what they have been taught.
Little Joey, was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school. “Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt . When he got to the Red Sea , he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then, he radioed headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved.” “Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?” his mother asked. “Well, no, Mom. But, if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!”
Sunday school is difficult isn’t it. Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it isn’t. How many of you guys went to Sunday School when you were school age? Did you know why you went? Do you understand now why you went to Sunday School? We could have quite a study on that. In a nutshell though, I think we have Sunday School because we are training our kids in the ways of Christian faith in the hopes that they will retain that training when they grow into adults and will live lives characterized by a faith in Jesus Christ.
One Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot’s wife looked back at the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Jason interrupted, “My Mummy looked back once while she was driving and she turned into a telephone pole!” There can be more than one reason not to look back.
We encourage our children to attend Sunday School because they are important to us and because faith is important to us. It is part of fulfilling the all important job we have of passing on the Christian faith. It’s not about knowledge. It’s about faith and the two are not one and the same. We can know Scripture from the front cover of the old testament to the last page of revelation and still not have faith. The hope is that the words of the Bible and the stories of God’s interaction with his people, will find a place in a young person’s heart and then grow to bear the fruits of faith. I bet that there are many of you here today who spent many hours in Sunday School and that it is one of the major reasons you are in church right now.
Well this sermon is not about Sunday School, it is about children. Like everything else in our world, there are lessons to be learned of faith in children. Today’s scripture reading is a picture of just how important children are. They are not only as valuable as Jesus himself, but they hold the key for understanding the very mystery of faith.
Jesus reference to children is in response to a question. The question is “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus reply was simple but incredibly perplexing. He said that unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. If I were an adult, that statement would frighten me to death. We adults pride ourselves on being adults. Yet, Jesus said, “Unless you are converted and become like little children, you will BY NO MEANS enter into the kingdom.” This answer has always been an enigma to me and I will be quite honest and tell you that even though I am preaching on it, I still am not at all certain of its meaning. I have heard in sermon after sermon that this scripture is about obedience and I have always scoffed at that. Have any of you every met a naturally obedient child? Some of you may tell me that you were obedient children and I would reply that that is your point of view. Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly “good children” and there are some who are gooder than others but the perfectly obedient child is so rare that this simply couldn’t be what Jesus was talking about. There are lots of ways to get children to behave like the mother who got her seven-year-old boy son to sit still and be quiet by telling him about halfway through the sermon that if he wasn’t quiet, the pastor was going to lose his place and he would have to start his sermon all over again!'
So there are two sentences in this scripture that help us get some clue as to what Jesus was talking about. One is a question and the other is sort of the answer. Notice that the disciples in asking the question, are worried about who is going to be on top in heaven. Who is going to be powerful. . . who is going to be the greatest!! Who is going to be a hot shot, top dog, the ruling class. They are asking about political power. What do we need to do to be on top?
You’ll notice in Jesus’ answer that he isn’t worried about who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is worried about who is going to make it to the kingdom of heaven. He doesn’t answer them with the criteria for being president of God’s kingdom or even part of a ruling class, he answers them with what they need in order to just be a part of God’s kingdom. Our Bible uses the word “convert”. You must be converted. The Greek word here means “to turn”. You must turn.
Last Father’s day, my family gave me a great gift. One of those Garmin, directional things that you punch in where you want to go and then, not only does it show you a map, but it tells you where to go and when to turn. It is awesome. You can program what voice you want. Mine has this very genteel woman’s voice with a British accent. “In point two miles, turn left.” And if you miss your turn . . , no yelling, no fighting, just a very calm, “Recalculating”. Tina and I think they need a voice that gets a little more emotional. “You missed your turn, you idiot. Why’d you ask me how to get there if you weren’t going to listen, anyway? . . .jerk.
Well, Jesus is a lot like a spiritual Garmin. He tells the disciples, You are going in the wrong direction and you need to turn. You need to go in a different direction. You are thinking that God’s government is like government here on earth and that kind of thinking is not even going to get you into the kingdom, never mind be a big shot there.
So Jesus says unless you turn from the direction you are going, then become as little children, unless you do these two things, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven, God’s kingdom. We must become like little children.
Now, I don’t like to stereotype. I think some big mistakes can be made when we try to tell a group of people what we think they are like but I’m going to do it anyway. This is not scientific. These are observations from being a student of people. Listen to these things and tell me what you think.
Adults for the most part, are great skeptics and doubters, aren’t we. Belief is hard to create in adults. That’s why Sunday school is so important. Children easily believe and they are hardly skeptical about anything.
Adults are always telling you why you can’t do something. We search very hard for reasons not to do things. Children are always wondering why adults don’t do more things and don’t really concern themselves with why you can’t. Children see adulthood as freedom to do what you want to do and they are amazed at the opportunities adults pass up.
Adults are great know it alls and have a hard time admitting they don’t know something. Children don’t care if they don’t know and they are very thirsty learners.
In most adults, their imagination has atrophied to the point that it is practically non-existent. Children have incredibly active imaginations.
Adults prize efficiency and hard work. Children want to play and look for opportunities to play.
Adults are fantastic worry warts. Children don’t worry much at all.
Adults lose their sense of mystery. Children have a sense of mystery and awe that is tantamount to a belief in magic.
Children are dependent and they don’t seem to mind it. Adults practically refuse to admit dependency and pride themselves in not needing anyone. What does it mean to you that you have a Father in heaven who loves you?
The point that I’m making here is that I think Jesus is saying that we can be too much of an adult to enter into and experience the kingdom of God. We can think of ourselves as so adult, so mature, so unchildlike, that we can be unable to be part of God’s kingdom. Is that really so strange? My poor son Cory is too tall to go on many amusement park rides. Can you believe that? He is too grown up to experience a roller coaster ride anymore.
Jesus tells us right here, that we can be too grown up to enter the kingdom of heaven.
We practice an open table here at Silver Lake. All who come to this table as a response to faith may join with us in this celebration of Holy Communion.
23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
