The importance of the Children's Ministry

Prayers. Could I just read a few verses

before we turn to the offering hymn in Matthew's Gospel?

We're reading from verse 18, Matthew chapter 18, and we'll

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

read verses one to six, and then we'll read 2 verses in Matthew

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19. Matthew chapter 18, verses 1 to

Matthew 18:1–6

6. Let's hear the Word of God for

those online, and we welcome our online community.

The words will come up on screen.

Matthew chapter 18, verses 1. At the same time came the

Matthew 18:1

disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the

Kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child

unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily

I say unto you, Except you be converted and become as little

children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,

the same as greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.

And whoso shall receive one such little child in mind, aim,

receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of

these little ones which believe in me, It were better for him

that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were

drowned in the depth of the sea. In Matthew chapter 19, we read

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

in verse 13. Then were there brought unto him

little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray.

And the disciples rebuked them. And Jesus said, Suffer little

children, and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such as the

Kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them

and departed sense. Amen.

We know God will stamp with his own approval and blessing this

reading of His own precious and infallible Word now, Amen.

Want to invite now the Lord's servant, Evan Middleton to come

and minister to us the Word of God and you can easily identify.

He's got 2 good colours on but we'll let you pick them out I'd.

Like to thank your minister for the kind invitation to come and

preach. It is good to be here with you.

I'm glad to see my Ma and my sister and her two kids and

Stephen and also friends from Crossgar, Basil and Joyce.

We're glad to see you as well. Of course our brother Alistair

as well. I've met Alistair a few times

through an organisation that David and I are a member of and

it's always good to renew fellowship with him.

I've never met his wife, so I'm glad to see you too.

But let's have a wee word of prayer as we come to God's

precious word. Heavenly Father, we ask thee to

draw near to each one of us. We thank Thee, Lord, for the

subject that thy servant has given.

And we ask thee, O God, that thou was undertake for us

tonight. Bless us around the word of God.

Speak to all of our hearts, Lord, speak to any, especially

in the gathering that know not the Lord.

And we ask thee, O God, that these incoming weeks meetings

would be long remembered and carried off, because the Lord

has come by with power. Be one of our number now.

Fill me with Thy Spirit and undertake for us in every way

for Jesus sake. Amen.

As I said, it's a great privilege and a pleasure for me

to be here in Carrie Duff this evening.

It's like a homecoming to me, not only because our family

lived here in Carrie Duff from 1972, first in Mourne View

cul-de-sac at the top of the Manse Road and then in

Winchester Heights off the Balnah Hinch Rd.

But also even though we attended the Martyrs on the Lords Day, my

sister and I were brought up we every week in the children's

meeting here in carried off Free Presbyterian Church.

Brother John Hillis used to bring us faithfully week by

week. And you get, it's funny what you

can remember. I remember his car, even

remember the number plate, it was adhering aid beige Mark 4

Cortina, and the registration number was HHS 530 T Don't ask

me why I remember that, but that's the case.

And we have happy, very, very happy memories of that meeting.

And I couldn't stand here tonight without bearing tribute

to our brother Wilfie and her sister Barbara for those

children's meetings. We thoroughly enjoyed them and

and certainly we have very happy memories.

I'm glad to hear that our brother, the Reverend David

McMillan, is coming because he grew up in that children's

meeting as well. And there were many times we

were trying to outdo each other in the quizzes and so forth.

But I really would like to thank your minister tonight for the

invitation to preach. As part of your anniversary

services. I bring you greetings from our

church in Tully Vallen in South Armagh.

I wish you God's richest blessings for the future here as

you carry on The work of the Lord here.

Carried Off will always have a special place in my heart.

For even though I lived in Lisburn when I got married in

1995, I lived in Jamaica for 18 months after that, then Acalee,

then Barry in Ontario and Canada for five years and then in

Malaya when I was the minister in Donaghadee for 9 1/2 years

and just now outside Newton Hamilton in Tully Vallen this

past 8 1/2 years. Carried Off will always be my

home and I trust the Lord I'll enable this congregation to take

ground for the Lord and his vineyard.

Now, as part of the invitation to preach, the Reverend

McLaughlin gave me a subject to preach on, and he said because I

was part of the children's meeting, he has asked me to

preach on the simple subject, the importance of children's

work. And I'm glad that the Word of

God has much encouragement for us to get involved in that work.

And added to that, I would like to bring a wee word of

encouragement to those that give their time and their efforts in

the children's work. Maybe encouragement like that

would be the way of others maybe desiring to get involved and

join in. I also want to encourage any

parents that may well be listening.

Do they keep on sending your young people?

Because as I stand before you, you have no idea how the Lord

can use what they get in children's meetings such as this

one and Sunday schools such as this one in their future lives.

Well, look at the passage that we've had read together.

I want you to see first of all the example.

Verse 2 of Matthew chapter 18 says, and Jesus called a little

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

child unto him and set him in the midst of them.

Now the disciples had just asked who was the greatest in the

Kingdom of heaven. And friends, as you think about

that, that's a stupid question because there He was.

He was standing right before them in the flesh.

But humanly speaking, there will be no one, there will be no

human being that will ever have that honour.

That's why in using the child as an object lesson and an example,

the Saviour directed their thinking.

Elsewhere you'll notice verses 3 and 4.

Verily or truly, I say unto you, except ye be converted and

become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom

of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble

himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the

Kingdom of heaven. And so friends, we learn saying

that the Lord Jesus, he called the wee boy over to himself, He

set him in the midst of them and he used them as an example of

how to be saved and therefore how to be sure of ever being

admitted into the Kingdom of heaven.

And you know, as you think about this example, it's a very, very

clear one. Why?

Because children have a simple honesty with them.

As you parents will know, there are no back doors where children

are concerned. And as we get older, pride in

the human heart will rear its ugly head.

And humanly speaking, it's much harder for older people to get

converted, whereas children are most likely are more likely to

be humble and open about the fact that they're sinners.

Their innocence makes it simpler when it comes to them seeing the

truth. And so the Lord Jesus in effect

was saying we cannot be proud and expect everything is going

to work out well for eternity. We need to be humble.

We need to be honest. And when those qualities are

there, praise God, we can be saved.

It's the Spirit of God who works effectually in the human heart

and that is the outcome. You see these disciples, they

had thoughts of preeminence, they had thoughts of greatness

amongst themselves, maybe amongst themselves as to who was

the favourite and so forth. And the Lord just had to set

that we fellow before them to have them catch themselves on

and praise God for that. Men and women, young people,

praise God. How often the Lord has to knock

the wind out of our sails, how often He has to get us back to

the basics. You see these disciples could

learn an awful lot from this we fellow.

And so it's no wonder in the next chapter we find out that

the Lord in verse 15 and he laid hands on them and departed.

Thence in marks parallel account in chapter 10, it tells us, and

he took them up in his arms and put his hands upon them and

blessed them. This was the example, you see,

that the Lord Jesus used and surely it ought to motivate us

in the work of God to evangelise children and evangelise young

people because they are a picture here used by the Saviour

as how to be saved. There's a lesson to us all about

how freely and how simply where they accept Christ as our

Saviour. Maybe you're here this evening,

or maybe you're listening or watching online and you're not

saved yourself. Maybe there has never been that

time when you simply took Christ and trusted Him at face value.

Maybe you've thought too far into it in the sense of what you

think you have to do first, some other thing that's holding you

back. But look at this example.

As I said, the great thing about children is their simplicity.

There's nothing complicated about them.

In fact, Luke's account of these events in chapter 18 he puts it

very simply indeed. Verse 17 says verily I say unto

you, whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little

child shall in no wise enter therein.

Verily, that simply means there's no doubt about this and

dear unsaved person, unless you come and simple child like

faith, the Christ taking your place as we have all done that

are saved humbly as a Sinner, there's absolutely no hope of

you ever being in heaven. That's the meaning of those

words. It's the meaning of the example

that the Saviour used. So tell me, have you done that

this evening? Have you come this way to

Christ, the only way of of hope for any Sinner to be saved?

I trust you have. You see there is the example

here. There's also the exhortation

here. Our reading is this evening is

actually a record of two separate events.

The first was the child used as the Saviour's example, but in

the next chapter we have the children also used by Christ by

way of exhorting the people. In Matthew chapter 19, you'll

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

notice we read there. Then were there brought unto him

little children, that he should put his hands on them and pray.

And the disciples rebuked them. I, I, I, I think there's a great

contrast in these words. There are the parents who had

the right attitude, and then again there's the disciples who

did not. The parents wanted their

children brought to the Saviour so that he could lay hands on

them and pray for them. And if you're in this meeting

tonight and you're a parent or you're listening online and

you're a parent, that is the very best desire that you could

have for your children, that they would be blessed of God.

Obviously, we cannot have the Saviour literally do as he did

in Bible times when he walked this earth in the flesh.

But we do have the place of prayer.

We do have that place where you can go and pray for your

children, knowing that the Lord will correspondingly pray for

them as well. There's also the aspect here too

that the parents brought the children to where Jesus was.

Again, we're not able to do that literally and in the flesh, but

there is application for us today.

You see back in Matthew 18, we have those well known words of

verse 20. It says where two or three are

gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

And as I've said, we cannot bring the children to where

Jesus is in the flesh right now. But praise God, we can most

definitely bring them to where He is by His Spirit.

We can bring them to the meetings in God's house.

He has promised to be there, and we would do well to make sure

that our children are brought there as well.

And friends, notice that I did say brought because in this day

and this generation, there are far too many parents today who

ask their children if they want to go to the meetings and if

that child doesn't want to, they're not taking.

When I was growing up, I was taken to God's house on the

Lord's Day, or if it was a children's meeting, I was sent

to it. I wasn't asked, I was told, and

that was the end of it. And far too many are leaving it

up to a child to make the decision regarding the meetings

and how foolish that is. Parents, we ought to make every

effort we can to get the children into the meetings

because you simply do not know the good that you're doing in

that. You simply don't know the

outcome even much later in life of bringing your child up in the

fear and in the admonition of the Lord.

And my mother's here this evening, I can tell you this.

I can. I haven't said to her, but I'm

guarantee you that my mother had absolutely no idea of where I

would end up in my later life. As she sent us out to Harry Duff

Children's meeting, as she sent us to Martyr Sunday School, I

guarantee you that it never entered her head that those

meetings were forming the basis of a future ministry for the

Lord. And so it's a very good thing

parent, it's a very good thing children's workers, that these

children are brought into the House of the Lord to the

meetings, especially those meetings that are guarantee are

geared towards them. The sad thing in all of this, in

Matthew chapter 19 and also in Mark and Luke's parallel

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

accounts, we read that the disciples rebuked them, or the

equivalent of that. We'll return to that shortly.

But for now let us understand this exhortation of the Saviour,

one that is repeated almost word for word in all three accounts.

Matthew 19 verse 14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children and

Matthew 19:14

forbid them not the come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom

of heaven. That word suffer.

There has a range of meanings in the Greek language of the New

Testament. All of the meanings actually add

up to the same things, namely the disciples were to allow,

they were to let the children come forth to the Lord Jesus.

It's also said in what's known as the imperative tense, and

that means it's a command of the Lord to his people to let the

parents bring their children to Him.

And likewise the word forbid there.

It's also said as a command, and it tells us then that there's a

double emphasis here on the will of the Saviour, that the

children would be found in his presence.

The words suffer and forbid are really two ways of saying the

same thing. The Lord Jesus wanted the

children there. Now surely that ought to speak

volumes to us. Surely that ought to show us it

is the desire of the Lord Jesus that the children hear the

truth. Why?

Because the truth will set them free.

And friends, surely we can see the need of such a thing today

and this day and this generation in which we're living.

If ever there was a pressing need to get children to Christ,

it's today. These children that come to our

meetings and brethren, even the smallest one in the children's

meetings, are facing issues that we older people don't have the

first clue about. There are things that they are

facing on a daily basis that would give us older ones

nightmares. Friends, they need the Lord and

we are feeling terribly if we don't expend all the efforts

that we can in getting them under the Word of God and the

teaching of the Scriptures. I am so glad.

I am so glad of the foundation for my life that I received a

carried off children's meeting. I'm so glad that it shaped my

future without me even realising it in my own life.

The work amongst the children is something that I've been very

much involved in. Gillian and I have conducted

various Bible clubs around the province through and our

churches in the land of Jamaica. We were in a school assembly

almost every morning of the week of the schools around about

where the mission station was. Thankfully that has continued in

Tully Fallen. I'm able to praise God.

I don't take it for granted. I'm able to go into the three.

There's three local schools, 2 primary schools and a high

school near us and I'm in three of them conducting their

assemblies. I've also conducted numerous

children's days in our churches here.

I tell you this, it's a great blessing to teach the children

about the Lord Jesus. And if you're likewise involved

in that work, you keep at it. You keep going.

Maybe you're thinking, well, I've done my time.

Maybe you're thinking of giving it up, friend, You keep on

going. You think again.

Maybe you've never even given it a go in the 1st place.

You get involved. I tell you, you won't regret it.

I do believe there's a particular blessing evolved in

evangelising the young and obviously from this example that

we have here, these two occasions.

Rather you're simply following the Lord, doing what He did.

You'll be obeying the command that He has given in these

Scriptures. What do you see last of all

here? The expansion back in Matthew

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18 after using the We fella as an example.

Later on, after commanding his disciples to allow the children

to come near, the Saviour expanded his teaching on both

occasions in Matthew 18. You'll notice verse 6.

But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe

in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged

about his neck, and that he were drowned in the mid depth of the

sea. That verse is a very clear

warning against any who would seek to harm children in any

way. The word offender in the Greek

language has to do with moral offences particularly, but you

can widen the scope to include anything that offends them.

And this verse is all the more strong when it's said against

the one previously. And whosoever shall receive one

such little child in my name receiveth me.

And that simply means that the Church of Christ ought to make

every effort to bring the children in and see them saved,

and at the same time make every effort that in no way do we

hinder them, no way do we offend them in any way that has spoken

off. The seriousness of such an

offence is clear from the punishment described.

Do you see it? It were better for him that a

millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in

the depth of the sea. And the millstone that is

mentioned there is just that. The old time mill had a stone

that was fixed on the bottom, and another stone known as the

upper stone which revolved on the top, which grind the meal

between them. They had bars coming out from

them, usually trunks of wood, and there were animals, cows and

stuff hooked up to them, or whatever animal that got hold

off, and that animal walked round and round in a circle all

day doing that work and grinding that meal.

You can imagine then the weight of such stones and their

Therefore the picture of this punishment is all the more

vivid. It shows us how serious that the

Lord takes these matters. And in the second occasion of

the expansions of the Saviours teaching in Matthew 19 and verse

14, it says, But Jesus said, Suffer the little, suffer little

children, and forbid them not to come unto me.

For of such as the Kingdom of heaven, Mark and Luke also have

something very similar. It's the response of the Saviour

when his disciples rebuked those that brought the children to

Christ. Friends were to bring them to

the Saviour were not to forbid them.

The word forbid occurs in all three records.

It again, as I've said, it's said as a command, the actual

Greek word can be rendered as hinder or withstand or keep from

them, among others. Very simply, rather than putting

stumbling blocks, rather than putting barriers and hindrances

in the way, we're to encourage the children as much as we can.

And therefore, we're to take whatever opportunities we can to

help the children along to the Lord in His grace that He has

given us to spend whatever needs to be spent doing that as well.

We certainly don't want to be like these disciples here when

their parents brought the children to Jesus, the

disciples. And think about this, The men

closest to the Lord Jesus rebuke them.

Ah, that's terrible reading, isn't it?

Very sad. You would have thought those who

were closest to the Lord would have known better.

But friend as Everett, we must remember that even the best of

men are only men. At best.

It has to be remembered that God's servant are prone to

getting these things wrong because not one of us are

perfect. Far from it.

But still, it's extremely saddening to see the servants of

the Lord hindering the children when they should be encouraging

them. Child of God, don't be like

these disciples here. You do all you can to encourage

the children in the presence of the Lord.

Don't be a hindrance to them. Don't put barriers in any in

their way at all. You encourage them.

I remember one of the the great. It's funny, this has just come

into my mind as I'm standing here.

I remember a, a, a series of meetings done here on on the

children's meeting with Mr Bilton.

I don't, I can't even remember anything about him.

But one thing I do remember, he did.

And then I thought when I was thinking about this, this was a

great thing. Instead of giving prizes out

every night, he'd give you a wee token and you saved up the

tokens and that got kept you coming every single it

encouraged you to come. And then on the last night of

the meetings, he had a big table with a whole pile of stuff on

it. And you went up to him with all

your tokens and he said, oh, you've got 20 tokens, you get

this or somebody else gets 30 tokens and you got that prize.

And that has always stuck in my mind because it encouraged us to

go to the meetings every single night.

Men and women, let's do stuff like that.

Let's encourage the children as one that has come through the

children's work here and carried off and has done much similar

work in the service of the Lord. It is an honour, it is a

blessing to be used of God to speak to children.

I simply leave you tonight with a challenge, a challenge to get

involved yourself. Do whatever you can to help in

this wonderful work and a challenge that we'll seek to

encourage the young people and their children not be any sort

of a hindrance in the times in which we live.

Don't forget the old devil is very busy.

He's seeking to wreck and ruin our children.

So we need to get on with the work, get on with fulfilling the

Saviour's desire and this command and Matthew and Mark's

record we find as a consequence of the children being brought to

him. The Saviour took the children up

in His arms and blessed them and child of God.

That is the desire of every right thinking believer.

And I trust that our children that the Lord has given to us

and brings into the House of God will be blessed in a similar

fashion. I trust the Lord will bless His

word to our hearts for His great name, Shake.

Amen.