Back in 2002 I joined these 19 other Redlanders on our first mission trip to Nairobi, Kenya. For nearly two weeks we worked alongside Cathie Burke and the women of the Amani Ya Ju ministry. One thing that I couldn’t help but notice during those weeks in Kenya were all the examples I saw of that nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
Don’t get me wrong, Kenya is a beautiful nation with wonderful people but there was SO MUCH wrong there! For example: The unemployment rate was over 50%, which made it impossible for the government to help the tens of thousands of refugees who had fled there to try to make a new home. Crime rates were through the roof and so everyone had to have a huge wall around their home or compound. In fact, one thing we did while we were there was to build a tall concrete wall around the Amani Ya Juu compound. I remember the women talking about how they were afraid to stay there until the wall was done.
Another problem that Kenyans faced was the corruption of the police force which meant everyone had to provide their own security to watch the gate to their compounds round the clock.
Cathie told us that the way you can tell if someone has had a break-in is by how many layers of razor wire they have on the top of their wall. She said that every time people have a break-in they add a layer. In our travels that week we saw several compounds with multiple layers.
Another problem was the traffic. Driving involved waging a constant battle between overcrowded vehicles and people who walked in the middle of the streets as if they were cars themselves. Those two weeks our lives were literally in the hands of our drivers and fortunately they were pros because they knew the roads and their dangers. One night on the way home from dinner our driver, Hezron, took 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 to explain why we had changed our route the night before. 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. That explained why Cathie always drove at such high rates of speed!
Here’s another problem those people faced. The power went off several times a day—as did 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 because, to do so will most certainly make you very ill. In fact, I got very sick on that trip. Well, I could go on and on because the sad truth is the nation of Kenya has so many problems. I mean, if I were president of Kenya I wouldn’t even know where to begin to fix things.
While there we met a woman who obviously DOES know where to begin. You’ve heard me mention her before. Her name is FAITH WANJIRU. This is a picture of Faith standing next to Cathie Burke’s daughter—Mary Estelle. In the late 1980’s Faith began two orphanages to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the thousands of homeless CHILDREN who roam the streets of Nariobi. Today she runs six of those orphanages—and cares for over 300 children—many of them infants. FAITH is from a wealthy Kenyan family. Her parents provided her with a good education and, upon graduation from college she landed a high-paying job as a fashion designer.
But as she began her career she was constantly confronted with all these homeless children—many of them babies left on a doorstep or in a dumpster. 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 think about this with me. FAITH looked at her nation with all it’s various 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. And of course FAITH was right. Children HAVE to come first—otherwise no nation has any hope for the future. By the way, her philosophy is beginning to pay off because she has had a couple generations of children that she welcomed into her orphanages grow up now. 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! Kenya’s problems are being taken care of—because Faith took care of Kenya’s children. Since Faith was willing to say, “Let the little children come to me…” Kenya is a better place.
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. FAITH has embraced the wisdom of this saying. She has lived by it and we need to as well. Children must always take priority—especially in a church.
In our text for today Jesus said something that all adults must hear—especially in our culture today where selfishness has prevented children from getting the priority they deserve. In this passage Jesus’ disciples had THEIR priorities mixed up. They weren’t esteeming children as highly as they should and Jesus rebuked them for that. Take your Bibles and turn to Mark 10:13-16.
Mark 10:13 – 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.
Thank you GRAHAM/JACOB. Make sure you didn’t miss what happened here.
Parents were bringing their little children and even their babies to Jesus but 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.” Jesus disagreed. In fact, our Lord was INDIGNANT that they would think this. By the way, this is the only time in Scripture that the word, “indignant” is used to describe Jesus. So—Jesus was angry—very ANGRY—that children would be delegated to anything but FIRST priority in His kingdom.I for one believe that God inspired Mark to record this event in his gospel because God wants all of His followers to know that ministering to children is a “FIRST THING.”
This morning—I’ve put our study of Ephesians on the back-burner in order to give us time to re-examine OUR priorities as a church when it comes to ministering to children. At the end of this service we’re going to give you an opportunity to commit to do your part in our very busy children’s ministry. We’ve prepared an insert for that purpose. Go ahead and get it out and fill it out as we go along.
To grow in this area of spiritual maturity there are TWO PRINCIPLES I want to remind you of. And the first is this…
(1) We must BELIEVE in the values we live by.
I say this because we will never truly make ministering to children a FIRST THING in our church…unless we all sincerely believe in the depths of our being that it should have priority.
Okay then—why should children come first?
A. One reason is because this instruction manual God has given to us—the Bible—repeatedly tells us that children have very high value.
For example: Genesis records the fact that the FIRST institution established by God was the family. And God’s FIRST command 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 Himself places on children. It 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.”
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.” So, if we claim to follow Him, we must agree with His Word and BELIEVE that bringing children to Him deserves top priority.
B. A second reason ministering to children should come first is because of something that is referred to as the TEACHABLE moment.
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.
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, then we are hindering our kids from reaching the full potential of God’s design for them. Years ago, Dr. R. G. Lee gave some startling statistics about the importance of leading a child to Jesus—statistics that still hold true to this day:
- 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.
The truth is the older a person gets without becoming a Christian the less likely they are to do so.
Of course 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.
In fact, I want to stop at this point and underscore the fact that the most important lessons we can teach our children concern God and His great love. I mean, the BEST thing you can do for your child is to lead him or her to the point that they make a conscious commitment to Jesus Christ in his or her early years.
I decided to become a Christ-follower when I was seven years old and I still remember the conversation I had with my dad that led me to make that decision. The greatest blessing my mom and dad gave me was this understanding of Who Jesus is and what He came to do for me. The decision I made based on that understanding—has blessed me every minute of my life. Any Christ-follower knows this is the BEST thing we can give our kids. We know that as Paul puts it in Philippians 3:8, “…everything is LOSS, compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord.” There IS no better way to benefit our precious children—than to introduce them to Christ and teach them the joy of knowing Him and serving Him.
(2) And, if have our priorities right as a church, we will believe this. But believing in the values we live by is not enough. We must also…LIVE by the values we believe in…
As a church we must LIVE and WORK in a ways 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 we would have to run a blurb in the Sower that said, “Please, no more….we have plenty of children’s workers!” If we ALL gave children’s ministry a priority in our lives, there would be a waiting list for nursery workers and SS teachers and AWANA workers and graded choir leaders, and VBS staff, etc. 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.” 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. Don’t misunderstand me. We strive to give children priority around here and that is reflected in our weekly calendar and our summer calendar which is filled end to end with children’s camps. It’s reflected in our paid staff—three of whom are responsible for children. It’s reflected in that four million dollar building next door. But in spite of this, like all congregations we struggle to find enough adults who will work with our children! And this is not a NEW problem. Every children’s ministry director we have had on staff here at Redland—even Nancy Walker who served in this position in a FULL-TIME capacity…every children’s ministry director has sat in my office during staff meeting and lamented at how hard it was to get people to work with our little ones. They’ve shared some pretty sad excuses given by people who were explaining why they couldn’t work in the nursery. But every one of these ministry directors have struggled to get people to put kids first. I have to admit—I’ve heard a lot of pessimism from these ladies….and I understand why. I’d be pessimistic too if I got turned down as often as they do. I remember one of them commenting that the invention of caller-ID was terrible because then people could see it was her calling and they wouldn’t answer for fear that they’d be asked to help watch our little ones. So, even though I hate pessimism, I can understand theirs.
And…perhaps I’m a bit optimistic, but have to believe that this problem is not completely related to selfishness. I have to believe that part of the reason we struggle to find enough children’s workers is the ignorance of many who don’t know about this need. With that in mind let’s continue to be OPTIMISTIC for a few minutes.
What would happen…what would be the benefit to a church if there were no selfishness or ignorance in this area? What would happen in a church whose members all gave children’s ministry the priority it deserves?
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 difficult; 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 daunting task of parenthood is the only major task we undertake in life without previous training. Think of it. You can’t really practice parenting your children because each of them are unique. Plus—as your children grow older they change and so the entire process of parenting has to change just to keep up. I mean, 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. Of course 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…but GOD DID NOT PLAN FOR PARENTS 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 This supplemental teaching by other Christians helps parents help their children to deal with the pressures of life.
Robert Coles is a student of the moral development of children. For more than three 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 the Christian 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 joined her parents in teaching 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. So the hard experiences of her life did not take little Ruby by surprise. She believed what her preacher said—and his words supplied her with direction and strength.
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. 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.”
With that in mind, 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,” married couples old and young…people from a wide range of vocations: plumbers, doctors, judges, lawyers, teachers, accountants, musicians, dentists, home makers, carpenters, electricians. The list is endless! Redland is a wonderful community to support parents as they nurture their children!
Please don’t think I am boasting—well maybe I am a little—but people often ask how our kids turned out so well—and even though I’m a bit biased I’ll say they HAVE turned out well. But when people ask me this I tell them, in all sincerity, that it’s more because of our church family than it is me. You guys are the main reason they have turned out as they have. The example you have set in the presence of Daniel and Sarah and Rebecca has been absolutely invaluable as Sue and I have worked to shape them into the people God wanted them to become. Our kids ADMIRE you. They want to be like YOU. I think one reason Daniel is a doctor is because of the example Bill Wehunt set. Becca felt called to work with senior adults as a physical therapist because of Gretchen Griffith. Sarah is working at NIH because of Jim Main….and the Tiedemanns—even though they were only here a year helped stir her passion for photography.
And that’s just your influence on their decision as to what PROFESSION to follow. I could go on and on because there are so many other ways your example as Christ followers down through the years has helped them make the right choices in life. I AM SO THANKFUL for you! You augmented our parenting in priceless ways. We literally couldn’t have done it without you.
This leads me to mention a second benefit that comes when a church puts its children first…
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 and that person was correct! 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 alcohol and pre-marital sex.
Of course, 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—no matter how good their adult teacher is. 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. I wouldn’t! By the way, many times ministering to children is the channel through which their parents come to know the Lord themselves! So, children’s workers grow spiritually….the church grows numerically…
3. And thirdly, all ADULTS benefit from just 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. Several years ago 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 I prayed and 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 lesson they can teach us 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 Kindle Fire.
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.” 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. Children teach us the importance of God’s gift of imagination.
Children can also teach us to have faith in God. Our little ones 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….
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!
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 that insert and come and lay it on the altar as your public commitment to help us put kids first. 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.