First Things First

Series: -- Preacher: Date: September 8, 2002 Scripture Reference: Mark 10:13-16

One thing that stood about to me as we ministered in Nairobi this summer was all the examples we saw of that nation’s crumbling infrastructure. I mean-as beautiful as Kenya is, there is SO MUCH wrong there!

  • The unemployment rate is over 50%, which makes it impossible for the government to help the tens of thousands of refugees who have fled there to try to make a new home.
  • Crime rates are through the roof and so everyone must have a huge wall around their home or compound-like the one we built for the refugee women of Amani Ya Juu.
  • The police are corrupt so everyone has to provide their own security to watch the gate to their compounds round the clock.

One day Cathie Burke commented that the way you can tell if someone has had a break-in in Nairobi is by how many layers of razor wire they have on the top of their wall. She said that every time you have a break-in you add a layer.

  • Traffic in Nairobi is horrible. Driving involves waging a constant battle between vehicles and people who flood the streets as if they were cars themselves-
    Our lives were literally in the hands of our drivers and fortunately they were pros for they knew the roads and their dangers. In fact, one night on the way home from dinner our driver, Hezron, took us a different route than we had taken to go to the restaurant. Cathie asked him why and he said, “You don’t want to know.” The next morning my curiosity got the best of me and so I cornered Hezron and asked him why we had changed our route the night before. Well, in hushed tones he said he had done this because while we were eating he had heard from the other drivers that there were car-jackers waiting on the road we had planned to use.
  • In Nairobi the power goes off several times a day-as does the water.
    One day while building the wall we had to stop making cement until the wall company could bring in several huge barrels of water-something they were very accustomed to doing. And of course you cannot drink the water for, to do so will most certainly make you very ill.
  • The phone system is in a shambles. I bought a phone card from the managers of the guest house we stayed in and she asked me later if I was able to place my call.
    She expected me to have trouble and I did-I tried seven or eight times using the Kenyan land lines and only succeeded once.
  • The president of Kenya is corrupt and it looks like the coming election will be as well, for he has hand-picked his successor in order to avoid being prosecuted for the crimes he has committed while serving as that nation’s leader.

I could go on and on because the sad truth is that there IS so much wrong with the nation of Kenya. Don’t get me wrong. The people are wonderful but they are facing numerous immense problems. I mean, if I were president of Kenya I wouldn’t even know where to begin to fix things. Well, while there we met a woman who obviously DOES know where to begin. In fact I think she’d make a great president! I’m sure that by now you’ve heard about her-for I am referring to FAITH-the young woman who, about 13 years or so ago began two orphanages to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the thousands of homeless children who roam the streets of Nariobi.

FAITH is from a wealthy Kenyan family. Her parents provided her with a good education and, upon graduation from college she landed a good job as a fashion designer. But as she began her career she was confronted with this particular problem that faces her nation. She used to give her lunch each day to the street children she would meet and eventually realized that this was not enough so she followed God’s call to begin her orphanages.

Now, FAITH looked at her nation with all it’s problems and God gave her the wisdom to see that the place to begin in helping her struggling nation, was to take care of its children. She saw that they had to take priority if her nation was to have any future-the little ones had to come first. And of course FAITH was right. Children have to come first otherwise no nation has any hope for the future. And her philosophy is beginning to pay off because the first kids she welcomed into her orphanages have now grown up. Thanks to her hard work and Christlike compassion they are healthy, educated, Christian young adults and are now becoming the shakers and movers in Kenya and there are hundreds more! They will be the men and women who will solve the many problems that face their nation.

You know, there is an old, familiar saying that says we should put, “FIRST things first.” In other words, wise people give priority to the most important things in life. Well FAITH has embraced the wisdom of this saying. She has lived by it and we need to as well.

Children must always take priority-in a nation-in a family-& especially in a church.

In our text for today Jesus said something that all adults must hear-especially in our culture today where, due to the selfishness of adults, children do not give the priority they deserve. You see, in this text Jesus’ disciples had their priorities mixed up. They weren’t esteeming children as highly as they should. Take your Bibles and turn to Mark 10:13-16 and let’s read this story together.

13 – People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.

14 – When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them,”Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

15 – I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

16 – And He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them.

In this familiar passage parents were bringing their little children and even their babies to Jesus and the disciples blocked their path no doubt thinking, “These are only children. They are not as important as other things the Master is doing. Children are not ‘FIRST’ things.” But Jesus disagreed. In fact our Lord was indignant that they would think this. As I told you in a Sower article a few months ago, commentators tell us that this is the only time in Scripture that the word, “indignant” is used to describe Jesus. Our Lord was indignant-ANGRY-that children would be delegated to anything but FIRST priority in His kingdom. And I for one believe that God inspired Mark to record this event in his gospel because He wants all of His followers to know that ministering to children is a “FIRST THING.”

Well, today, as we install our new Coordinator of Children’s Ministry, I want us to re-examine OUR priorities as a church when it comes to ministering to children. To grow in this area of spiritual maturity there are two principles I would like us to understand. First of all….

1. We must BELIEVE in the values we live by.

You see, we will never truly make ministering to children a FIRST THING unless we sincerely believe in the depths of our being that it should have priority. Okay then-why should it? I mean, why should children come first in any church?

A. Well on reason is because this instruction manual God has given to us repeatedly tells us that children have very high value.

Genesis records the fact that the FIRST institution established by God was the family. And God’s FIRST command and instruction to the family was to “Be fruitful and increase in number-in other words, have children!” (Genesis 1:28) Psalm 127:3-5 provides three potent word pictures describing the tremendous value God places on children. God says, “Behold, children are a GIFT of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a REWARD. Like ARROWS in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” In Matthew 18:6 Jesus showed how very highly He valued children by saying that anyone who harmed them would be better off having, “….a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Last Wednesday night in his message, Eric Thomas reminded us of the conversation that Jesus had with Peter following His resurrection. Do you remember what our Lord said that night? He said, “If you love Me, feed My lambs.” In other words, if you love Me, Peter, take care of My little ones. And then, in verse 14 of today’s text, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the KINGDOM of God belongs to such as these.” Couple that verse with Jesus’ words in the sermon on the mount. In that message He commanded us to, “Seek FIRST the KINGDOM of God…” So Jesus taught that seeking the Kingdom of God includes putting children first. And if we claim to follow Him, we must agree with His Word and BELIEVE that bringing children to Him deserves top priority.

B. And then, a second reason children’s ministry should come first is because of something that is referred to as the TEACHABLE moment.

You see, experts in child development tell us that there are “windows” in a child’s life when they must learn something and if they don’t master that particular lesson then, they never reach their potential in that area. For example: If a child doesn’t learn to walk in the first two years, they never will walk as well as they could have. If a child doesn’t learn to read at a certain time, they never reach their reading potential. Well the same is true of learning spiritual things. There is a “teachable” moment in our lives when it is easiest for us to embrace a personal faith in God and it comes when we are children. This means that if we do not actively lead our children to receive Christ as their Savior and Lord-if we don’t make this a FIRST thing, we are hindering our kids from reaching the full potential of God’s design.

Years ago, Dr. R. G. Lee gave some startling statistics about the importance of leading a child to Jesus-statistics that are still true today.

  • 19 out of every 20 people who become Christians do so before they reach the age of 25.
  • After 25 only one in 10,000 do so.
  • After 35 only one in 50,000 do so-and it goes down from there.

So, the truth is the older a person gets without becoming a Christian the less likely they are to do so. Now, we can’t choose God for our children. We can’t impose our faith upon our sons and daughters. Each child must choose for himself or herself. But, you can and should show them the Bible and teach them to read it and understand it. You can and should introduce them to the value system that grows out of the Christian faith so they can learn why right is right and wrong is wrong. And you can and should teach them that life works best when it is centered around a personal walk with God through Jesus Christ.

At this point, I want to underscore the fact that the most important lessons we can teach our children when they are children concern God and His love for them. The BEST thing you can do to express your love for your child is to lead him or her to a conscious commitment to Jesus Christ in his or her early years. Patrick Henry-the famous early American statesman said the following concerning the disposition of his estate.

“I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion. If they had that, and I had not given them one shilling, they would have been rich; and if they had not that, and I had given them all the world, they would be poor.”

Perhaps Mr. Henry was inspired by the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:8 where he wrote: “…what is more, I consider everything as LOSS, compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord.”

There IS nothing worth more-there is no better way to bless our precious children-than to introduce them to Christ and teach them the joy of knowing Him and serving Him. And, if have our priorities right as a church, we will believe this. But you know, believing in the values we live by is not enough. We must also….

2. …. LIVE by the values we believe in….

As a church we must LIVE and WORK in a way that reflects our belief that ministering to children has priority. Now, I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. That is the Holy Spirit’s job but if children’s ministry really were a first thing in all of our minds here at Redland, then Jennifer Crocker would have to run a blurb in the Sower that said, “Please, no more….we have plenty of children’s workers!” There would be a waiting list for nursery workers and missions teachers-because actions are the truest reflection of genuine belief. James 2:18-19 says, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder.” In other words, belief is not enough. Actions must be present to show that beliefs are sincere and this applies to our belief about the importance of ministering to children. We must LIVE BY the values we believe in. Because our lives DO reflect the depth and sincerity of the beliefs we claim to hold. Unfortunately this is not the way it is in most churches-including Redland. It has always been a struggle to find enough adults who will work with our children and that is so discouraging to me!

But let’s be optimistic for a few minutes. What would happen if we did? What would be the benefit to a church that puts children’s ministry first? Follow along on your outlines as I cite four results of this philosophy of making children’s ministry a FIRST thing:

A. First of all, parents will have help in the TEACHING process

I think all parents would agree that it is tough raising kids these days. It is hard work teaching them the things they need to know to be safe and happy and successful in life! And, parenthood is not only a perplexing undertaking; it is also an awesome responsibility, because in our homes children become who and what they are to be for the rest of their lives. As a direct result of the way we parent our kids, they either become selfish or self-less people. They either become industrious or lazy. They either become honest or deceptive. And to make matters worse-the awesome task of parenthood is the only major task we undertake in life without previous training. You can’t practice parenting your children! Another thing that makes parenting difficult is that it gets tougher as your children grow older, not because the children get worse, but because they grow up and change and so the entire process of parenting has to change just to keep up. You can’t keep parenting your teens they way you did when they were toddlers! It IS a tough job being a parent these days and this is especially true when it comes to the most important task of parenting-that of leading our kids to embrace a personal faith in God. Now God gave this task to parents and it makes sense that He did because parents are with children in the normal flow of everyday life. So, God intended for PARENTS to teach their kids about His love-BUT HE DID NOT PLAN FOR THEM TO DO THIS IN ISOLATION. You see, if parents are the ONLY ones involved in teaching our children about spiritual things, the ONLY ones who talk to them about God’s principles and way of life, well then, children may well end up thinking that anything that has to do with God is just their parents’ own personal hangup. And this is where the church family comes in because a community of faith helps undergird and support parents as they teach and train their kids. As I remind you whenever we have parent/child dedication, we work TOGETHER here at Redland in raising our children to understand what it means to follow God And this supplemental teaching by other Christians helps children to deal with the pressures of life.

Robert Coles is a student of the moral development of children. For more than two decades he has listened to children talk about their lives-children from several countries, the very poor and the rich. One of the children whose life Cole studied in the 1960’s was a little girl named Ruby. Each morning and each afternoon for months, six-year-old Ruby Bridges, an African-American child, walked through a mob of adults who yelled threats at her. This was the price she paid to attend school-a school that had been all white until she enrolled. Cole spent many hours with Ruby and got to know her very well. He grew to respect her very highly and wondered how a six-year-old could face her assailants each morning with a smile and then pray for them every night. What gave little Ruby the strength to integrate a school? Coles notes that his research showed that religion and faith played an important role in this child’s life. Writing about Ruby he said, “If I had to offer an explanation for her fortitude I think I would start with her religious tradition.”

You see, Ruby’s church family taught her that God had a purpose for her life and this conviction gave her a reason to be strong. The preaching and teaching at her church also told her that the road to heaven would not be easy. The hard experiences of life, therefore, did not take her by surprise. Ruby believed what her preacher said, and his words supplied her with direction and strength. Now-as I said-raising children these days is tough! It is a real challenge to teach them the principles that are found in God’s Word, but it is a lot easier if they are involved in a church that makes children’s ministry a FIRST thing because the truth is FAITH is not something that is TAUGHT as much as it is CAUGHT. And just like a virus-the more “infected” people you keep company with the more likely you are to “catch” whatever it is they are carrying-especially if it is a genuine faith in God. In his book, Talking To Your Children About God, Rick Osborne says,

“Children need to see regular people doing their best to live God’s way: relatives, family friends, leaders, counselors, Bible teachers, volunteers, people in businesses or careers that our kids are considering. There should be a whole range of people of different ages painting pictures with their lives, words, and actions for our children to store in their memories and draw on in daily life.”

Now-think of all Redland has to offer it’s children in terms of life experience: We are blessed with a gold mine of growing Christians of all ages-teens to “Senior Saints,” people who have lived through WWII, peers from growing Christian families, married couples old and young, people from a wide range of vocations: Christian vets, plumbers, doctors, judges, lawyers, teachers, accountants, musicians, geoticists, home makers, carpenters, personnel experts. The list is endless! Redland is a wonderful community to support parents as they nurture their children! I for one have been so thankful to have incredible people like you for my own children to hang around. The example you have set in the presence of Daniel and Sarah and Rebecca has greatly helped Sue and me as we have worked to shape them into the people God wants them to become. Then, when a church puts its children first there is a second benefit….

B. Children will have opportunities to choose GOOD FRIENDSHIPS.

Someone has said that who you are five years from now will depend on the books you read and people you spend your time with now. We are all taught, influenced, and mentored-whether we want to be or not-by the people we spend our time with. So it is very important that our children spend time with Christian peers. Proverbs 13:20 says, “Anyone who walks with wise people grows wise. But a companion of foolish people suffers harm.” and 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Don’t let anyone fool you. ‘Bad companions make good persons bad.'” Probably one of the most concrete benefits of being active in a church is that our children grow up with and choose as their primary friends peers who are also learning about God. When I was a teen my life revolved around my friends at church-not those at school. Because of this Christians influenced me more than non-Christians did. This was incredibly helpful when it came to my saying NO to things like drugs and pre-marital sex. Now we can’t control who our children choose as friends but we can control to a large extent which “menu” their friends will be chosen from. I mean, if you want your kids to eat good food then stay away from fast food joints! Take them to only those restaurants that serve nutritious meals. And if you want your kids to choose good friends it only makes sense to involve them in a community of Christians-a place where good friends are most likely to be found. So, when a church puts children first: parents will benefit; children will as well; but the positive affects spread even farther than that because….

C … the whole CHURCH will be blessed. Think about it:

1 – Children’s workers grow spiritually.
I don’t know how many times a children’s SS teacher has told me that they learn more when they teach the Bible than they do when they just sit in a class. And this makes sense. Preparing to teach children the Bible requires that we spend time in prayer asking God’s wisdom and guidance and the more we do that-the more we grow.

2 – And then, the church grows numerically.
Parents who are new to our community, looking for a church home want to find a place where their children come first. They won’t join a church unless this is true. And often ministering to children is the channel through which their parents come to know the Lord.
So, children’s workers grow spiritually….the church grows numerically…

3 – And thirdly, all ADULTS benefit from being around children.
In the process of helping children respond to their natural desire for faith, we find our own faith reawakened. Watching them respond to God’s love inspires us to return to a simpler, more honest, childlike faith ourselves. Recently 3rd and 4th graders at Wheaton Illinois Christian Grammar School were asked to complete the following sentence: “By faith, I know that God is….” Listen to their responses:

Amanda wrote… “By faith, I know that God is…FORGIVING, because He forgave in the Bible, and He forgave me when I went in the road on my bike without one of my parents.”

Brandon wrote… “By faith I know that God is….PROVIDINGFUL, because He dropped manna for Moses and the people, and He gave my dad a job.”

Paul wrote… “By faith I know that God is….CARING, because He made the blind man see, and He made me catch a very fast line drive that could have hurt me.”

Jeremy said…. “By faith I know that God is….MERCIFUL, because my brother has been nice to me for a whole year.”

Hanna said… “By faith I know that God is….SWEET, because He gave me a dog. God tells me not to do things that are bad. I need someone like that!”

One anonymous child wrote, “By faith I know that God is…FAITHFUL, because the school bill came, and my mom didn’t know how we were going to pay it. Two minutes later, my dad called, and he just got a bonus check. Mom was in tears.”

There are SO many things our children can teach us-lessons that we have forgotten as adults.

One is the importance of imagination. You see when we grow old our imagination tends to fade away. We lose our ability to picture things better than they are. In his book, A Chance At Childhood Again Alan Wright says that adults who have lost their ability to imagine say things like, “My marriage can never be healed….it is too far gone.” or”My teenager will never quit rebelling.” or “I’ll never be healthy again.” or “I’ll never get out of debt.” But kids rely on their imaginations. Imagination is what empowers a parent’s kiss to make a child’s boo-boo all better. Imagination is what makes peekaboo fun. It is what makes little boys have more fun with toy trucks than construction workers have with the real ones. It is what makes pots, pans, and wooden spoons as splendid as any symphony’s percussion. Its what makes cardboard boxes more fun than a Nintendo Game Cube! And imagination is a vital quality for all Christians who want to grow. Think about it. You can’t worship without imagination. Jesus said, “God is SPIRIT and those who worship Him must worship Him in SPIRIT and in truth.” So worship is not a physical thing. It is a spiritual thing. We must use our minds and our imaginations in order to picture God and worship Him. Oswald Chambers said, “Imagination is the greatest gift God has given us.” And I agree. No one has come to Christ without imaginations. They imagine that the eternal, unblemished God stooped to come into our dirty, time-trapped world, and that all the stupid mistakes, ugly stains, and haunting guilt could disappear because He came. They imagine a Creator willing to be killed by His own creatures just to have their fellowship. Only a wild imagination could consider such love. Well, children teach us the importance of God’s gift of imagination.

Children can also teach us to have faith in God. They have not been so wounded by our fallen world that they have become cynical-like so many of us! So, they don’t know that they can’t do something which makes them more ready to believe God does the impossible!

In short, all disciples benefit from being around children because they can teach us so many of the qualities that go into helping us be all we need to be for God. But you know when we put Children’s ministry first not only will parents be blessed. Not only will children benefit and churches and individuals grow spiritually….as Faith is discovering,

D. …. the entire world will BENEFIT

One Sunday morning, many years ago, a 10 year old boy attended a special Lenten service in Pompton, New Jersey. It was a cold, rainy morning and the 10 year old was the only one present-except for the preacher. The boy wondered what the minister would do. But when the hour set for the worship arrived, the minister walked into his pulpit in all his solemn dignity, as though the church were filled to capacity. Later, after the boy had grown to manhood, he recalled the experience: “He looked down on me with a smile of great dignity and sincerity and he commenced the service as if the church were crowded to the walls. He talked earnestly to me-and to God.” When the time came for the morning offering, the minister stepped down from the pulpit and placed the offering plate on the altar railing. Reverently, the little boy walked up to the altar and placed his nickel in the plate. And as he put his nickel in the offering plate, the preacher smiled at him and put a big, gentle hand on the boy’s head. Many years later, recalling that experience, the boy commented:

“In walking back to my seat, I knew this man’s god was a real God, and that his faith was God-like in its monumental simplicity. It left a lump in my throat, and I cannot think of it even today without emotion. That was religion at its finest.”

Long years after that experience, he said that his father’s habit of reading the Bible aloud to him, and that gentle preacher’s attitude when only one worshiper showed up at church-and he was only a boy-were two of the influences that encouraged him to make some of the greatest motion pictures that were ever filmed. The boy was CECIL B. DEMILLE and his movies have been seen all over the world: Movies like The Ten Commandments, The King of Kings, The Sign of the Cross, and more, movies that have enabled us to imagine a God who would go to any length to make it possible for His children to return to Him. Who can calculate the influence of the life of Mr. DeMille….all because a man of God put ministering to a child FIRST!

Now, I hope that God used this worship service to help you put the right things FIRST in your life. Perhaps He has convicted you of your need to be involved in children’s ministry here at Redland. If so, I would ask that you will fill out the insert and if you haven’t already turned it in you might want to walk forward and place it here on the altar as a public commitment to put children first or take it to JENNIFER and ask her how you can help put children first around here. You may be here this morning-looking for a church home-a place to both find family and raise family. Maybe you have prayed that God would guide you a church where you can be supported by a loving community. And today God has answered that prayer and led you here. If He has we invite you to join our membership!

It may be that you are here and are not a Christian. And as we have worshiped and studied together our Heavenly Father has spoken to you and you have realized you are His lost child. If this is true won’t you come home to God? However God is leading you, we invite you to make your decision public by walking forward and talking to me as we stand to sing.

Website design and development by Red Letter Design.