Introduction
Children
come out with amazing things sometimes. One of the things we never did, but
wish we had done, is to write down in a notebook all the funny things our children
said when they were small. There were so many cute words and expressions they
invented! Some of them we do remember though and they’ve become part of our
family vocabulary.
Someone
asked a class of seven year-olds recently to write prayers and here are some
examples that I thought were quite good:
Dear
God, thank you for the baby brother but what I asked for is a puppy.
Dear
God, I always look both ways before I cross the road. So you don’t have to
worry about me.
Dear
God, did you mean for giraffes to look like that, or was it an accident?
Dear
God, I read the Bible. What does “begat” mean? No one will tell me.
Let Them Come to Me
In Mark chapter 10, there’s the
account of Jesus meeting some children. In those days and in that culture,
children counted for very little. They were not valued at all. Until they had
their Bar Mizvah at the age of about 12 they were to be seen and not heard. They
were irrelevant.
In
the literature of that time what you find is that that people didn’t take children
seriously. They were written off as silly, easily-led, unstable, naive and immature.
Children
were not important in that society. No self-respecting rabbi would waste his
time with them. They had much more important matters to attend to.
But
such was Jesus’ exceptional charisma and magnetic personality, people brought their
children to him so he would at least bless them before sending them away. This
is the one who healed the sick, who cast out darkness and shadows from
tormented souls, who lifted the mood of the oppressed, who gave hope to the
crushed. Everyone wanted a bit of him. Everyone wanted to be near him and just
see him or be around his captivating presence.
So
it says “people were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his
hands on them but the disciples rebuked them.”
These
guys are like bouncers on the door. “Get these kids away from here. Can’t you
see the Master is busy? What do you think this is, Santa’s Grotto? Go on, off
with you, Jesus has got important matters to attend to.” That’s basically what
they were saying.
Have
you ever noticed that Jesus always seemed to be getting panned for spending time
with the wrong people?
“Why
do you eat with tax collectors and sinners?” they asked. “Why is he letting
that loose woman anywhere near him? If he was really a prophet he wouldn’t let
her touch him” they said.
Some
people, including his own disciples, thought he should be spending associating more
with the rich, with celebrities, with the great and the good – not the riffraff
and certainly not with the hyperactive regulars from the local kindergarten.
But
the Bible says that when Jesus saw that they were shooing the kids away, “he
was indignant.” It means, literally, that he was moved with irritation. It
annoyed him. It ticked him off. It exasperated him. It wound him up to the
point of snapping.
When
he saw what was going on he said, “No! They’re staying. Let these little
children come here to me. Don’t you dare prevent them.”
Jesus
is once again smashing the conventions of his day to pieces. He’s saying to his
minders here, “You’ve got it all wrong. You think that Christianity is only for
sophisticated grown-ups. What do you think you’re doing, sending the kids away?
Let them in. Bring them here. I want to see them and I want them to see me
because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like this.”
Here’s
the point: “You are trying to tell me that children can’t grasp anything
spiritual until they become like us adults. That’s completely the wrong way
round! It’s the exact opposite. We adults will never grasp anything spiritual
until we become like children.”
Our
ideas are wrong headed. We imagine that we’ve got to be all sophisticated. We
think if it’s really simple and straightforward it can’t be right. Jesus doesn’t
agree with that at all. Jesus gets annoyed by holy hot air. It might sound impressive
and clever but it’s pious claptrap and he hates it.
No
wonder the religious elite couldn’t stand him. And no wonder the Bible says
that ordinary people heard him gladly and that he was a friend to people with
messed up lives. Children loved him.
What
was it about little ones that Jesus said was so important to imitate? Was he
saying we should be innocent like them? Was he talking about their simple
trust? Was it that they don’t complicate things?
I
don’t think he meant that they were innocent. We have four children and, from a
fairly young age, they knew how be unkind and disobedient when the mood took
them.
Whenever
something got broken in my house when I was young, my dad would ask my brother
and me, “Now who did this?” And we used to say in exact unison “he did it!”
When
my brother was about one and I was three, I once decided, in the middle of the
night to try something out. I crept into the kitchen, filled a jug with water,
went back into the bedroom and tipped the lot all over him as he slept. I have
no idea why I did that. I can only say that it seemed a good idea at the time.
Anyway,
he shrieked and pulled himself up on the bars of his cot, blinking water out of
his little brown eyes. Then I heard my mum and dad’s footsteps so I hid under
the cot. They came in to the bedroom, saw the jug, noticed my feet sticking out
from under the cot and pulled me out. “What is all this about?” they said. I
looked at my brother. And I looked at them. And all I could think of saying was
“he wet himself.”
I
could talk about the time I tipped a pack of sugar out of the window, the time
I brought a dead mouse in after my mum warned me not to, put a drawing pin on
my sister’s chair… children aren’t as innocent as all that!
So
what did Jesus mean when he said “the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as
these”? I think there are three things that you will find in every child. And
without these three things you can’t get into the kingdom of God.
1. An Open Mind
Firstly, every child has an open
mind. Children are ready to believe you and trust you. They have big
imaginations. I used to think my dad knew everything because he said he did. If
he had told me he could fly I would have just agreed with him. Children have
open minds, and although they do accept things that are not true, they’re ready
to receive things that are true. That’s
why they have amazing faith.
One
of our most treasured memories is when our daughter Anna was about 3 years old.
She was buckled up in the back of our old Citroen 2CV one damp, misty morning.
I tried several times to start the car, but to no avail. I suppose I must have
tried for about 10 minutes but, though the engine turned, it wouldn’t fire. I
got out and looked under the bonnet – but there was nothing obvious.
I
tried again, failed again, and sighed, feeling helpless. Then, from the back
seat, a little voice squeaked “Come on Jesus, start the car!”
I
felt sad that Anna’s simple faith would be shattered by our useless, unreliable
old banger stubbornly refusing to start yet again. But resigned to the
inevitable disappointment, I put the key back in the ignition. I turned the
key. It started perfectly.
As
we get older, we close our minds, we shut off our imagination, we argue and say,
“I can’t believe that.” But children’s minds are open to believe.
Now,
I have a bar of chocolate here. And it’s free to anyone who comes up here and
asks me for it...
2. An Open Hand
Secondly, every child has an open
hand. I mean by that that they are ready to ask and willing to receive. The
Bible says, “You do not have because you do not… ask.” Jesus said “God gives
good gifts to those who ask.” If I want to receive anything from God, I have to
take it, open handed like a child. There is no other way.
I
find that the older we more reluctant we become to hold out our hand and ask
for more or accept a free gift. We feel awkward, we want to give something back
for it. Even if it’s just a Christmas card. “Oh no. They’ve sent me a card and
I didn’t send them one.” Children don’t think that way.
As
adults, we become more and more proud. We even refuse assistance when we know
we need it. We sniff at the idea of someone helping us. “Oh, I’ll be all right!”
No
child I know will ever say, “Thanks for the offer but I won’t take those
sweets, I don’t need your charity.” But adults do! Children are willing to take
what you offer them and that is a must in the kingdom of heaven.
3. An Open Heart
And thirdly, every child has an open
heart. If you love children, they will love you in return.
When
you show love to an adult, you sometimes get the response “So what’s the
agenda? What’s he after? What’s the catch?” The experience of life changes us
and as we get older, the heart closes up. We get used to people letting us down
so we learn to stop trusting them. We become cynical and wonder if people are
trying to use us. Children don’t think that way. They have open hearts.
Here’s
a true story - a man was flying from Atlanta to Dallas and it just so happened
that in the seat next to him was a little girl with Down’s Syndrome. After a
while she turned to him and said “Do you smoke?”
He
was a little uncomfortable, but he told her that he didn't.
She
said, “Good, because smoking will make you die.” She nudged him, pointed to the
guy across the aisle and said, “Ask him if he smokes.” And so, good-naturedly, he
did, and the man said that he didn't smoke either.
Then
she said, “Mister, do you love Jesus?” He smiled and said, “Well, yes, I do.” The
little girl smiled and said, “Good, everyone should love Jesus.”
Then
she nudged him once again and said, “Ask him if he loves Jesus. Ask him!”
He
thought “Oh no,” but he swallowed hard and turned to the guy again and said, “Now
she wants to know if you love Jesus.”
His
expression became serious. He said, “You know, in all honesty, I can't say that
I do. I've wanted to be a person of faith all my life, but I haven't ever taken
that step. And now I've come to a time in my life when I know I should.”
And
so Milton Cunningham, who was a preacher on his way to Dallas, led that
businessman to faith in Christ on that airplane all thanks to one little girl’s
open heart and readiness to ask that simple question “Do you love Jesus?”
Ending
As
I end, I want to make it possible for anyone here who wants to open their mind,
their hand and their heart to God – to do so. Remember Jesus said, “Anyone who
will not receive the kingdom of heaven like a child will never enter it.”
Please don't feel under any pressure
to do anything you don’t feel ready for. But there may be somebody here who
says “Well, I want to go ahead right now.”
I’m
going to finish with a simple prayer. It’s a prayer saying sorry to God for the
past, turning away from everything that’s wrong, thanking Jesus for dying on
the cross, and asking him to come and fill you with his presence.
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 18th October 2015
Thanks to David Pawson for the three headings
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