Mark 10:13-16 - Discipleship & Children (Preaching Lab Week 1)

So this passage is really short and sweet.

It's for everyone, and you know it.

It may even provide a beginning to spiritual renewal in your

life. I mean, that's my hope.

That's my prayer as I've gone through it this week.

So let's just stand for the reading of God's Word in Mark

1013 through 16. They were bringing children to

him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.

But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, Let

the children come to me, Do not hinder them, for to such belongs

the Kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever

does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter

it. And he took them in his arms and

blessed them, laying his hands on them.

It's the word of the Lord. Going to have a seat, short and

sweet. So whoever does not receive the

Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

What's he talking about? It's it's it's somewhat tied

back into John's gospel where Jesus is talking with Nicodemus,

one of the Pharisees, and saying you must be born again and

Nicodemus being probably a middle-aged Hebrews, like how am

I supposed to get back in my mother's womb?

I'm a full grown man. The the core of that being it's

a spiritual rebirth. And much like this it's not a

hey, we need to have the Benjamin Button disease, we need

to reverse our aging. It is a spiritual youth,

something about that youth that needs to happen.

It's not a a a gullibility. It's not being distracted or

messy or or clumsy or having unregulated emotions.

We probably have at least one of those.

But that's not the qualifier. The qualifier is the core of

being a child in the spiritual sense.

What does it mean? And this is the essence of life

with Jesus that he's talking about, and that is dependency.

So how were children viewed in that time?

I think we've talked about that through the Series A number of

times. But in in summary, the

children's social status was that of the lowest, almost

equal, without of a slave, no authority, and so children being

Hebrew children, they were completely dependent upon their

parents for everything, for protection, for food, for

shelter, for care, for compassion, for community.

Likewise what Jesus is saying that we are to be completely

dependent upon him. And that's the core of the

gospel that we we preach week in and week out, that we were dead

in our sins. God made us alive and we lived

in rebellion. He shows us grace and we still

sin. Jesus never forsakes us that we

were lost. The Father adopts us as his own

children. We are dependent.

And so Jesus talks about this. You know in a sense in John 15

where he talks about abiding in him, that in this illustration

that he is the vine and we are the branches.

We are connected to him. Through him we get nourishment.

Through him. We have roots that get into the

soil, that soak up water so that we can survive.

Apart from Him, we have nothing. It's our new home with him, in

him, in him, we are connected. In him we have life.

In him is the place of thriving, in the place of flourishing.

The constant thought like if we have this in our minds, the

reality of of what that is, the questions that constantly have

to be running through them. What do I have apart from you?

What do I have? What do I have that you haven't

given me? This For the believer, this is

your way of life. Now in him, none of us.

When the time comes, none of us will be before the throne and

say to God, man, I'm sure glad I had a hand in this.

He supplies everything like just even this morning.

Right now, like he is putting the breath in our lungs, He is

causing our hearts to beat over and over.

He is causing the synapses in our brains to hear and

understand and see and feel. Apart from him, we have nothing.

He He has saved us and he's still doing a work in US right

now through his spirit, and he's constantly praying for us.

Hebrews gets into this word in Chapter 7.

The author talks about Jesus constantly interceding for those

whom He loves. Or, going back to chapter one,

that he upholds the universe with the word of His power.

The word of His power that he speaks constantly means that we

exist, means that the laws of physics, that if they were

altered one fraction of a degree, the universe would

implode. He sustains it apart from Him.

We're utterly lost. The follow up question then is

that it? Right.

Sermon over we get the passage, let's move on.

My question is do we just need to be dependent and we will Max

out all potential? I think we would all say that we

are dependent upon Jesus. Like if we follow Jesus, we say

yeah, I'm dependent, but would we also say something feels like

it's missing? At times something feels off.

I still feel dependent, but I'm lacking something.

And whether you want to say this is a nuance of dependency and

it's intermingling. I didn't really get to fleshing

that out. But hand in hand, the essence of

life with Jesus being dependency.

The joy of life with Jesus is wonder.

Wonder is the overflow and anchor of our dependency.

What do I mean? Wonder cannot be contained if it

is a genuine sense feeling, experience of wonder, it

overflows and at the same time that overflow grounds us in what

captivates us. You know what I mean.

It maintains the right perspective on what we see as

reality. Is it crystal clear?

Because when we see Christ not not just in these words, but dig

deep with me and and feel these words.

Like if we truly see Christ is infinitely worthy of praise,

that he's glorious and beautiful and holy, and he calls you his

friend, that should provoke wonder.

It should cause an overflow and also an anchor.

Because why would I leave that? Why?

Why would I walk away from that? Why would I chase after

something else and and we see this like those of us with

parents or are around kids a lot we we see it in the wonder that

children have specifically like 6 months to two years.

I mean kids experience that after I have a five and

three-year old and and they still do.

But that sweet age range of six months to two year olds and I

think your parents know what I'm talking about because I would, I

would hold them and what I would do, I would like to get as close

to their faces as possible because they're young.

They don't have a personal space zones.

They still don't and and I want to get as close as I can to see

their eyes before it gets out of focus because I'm witnessing

them taking in the world with unfiltered wonder.

Usually eyes are like wide open, like, wow.

We took the kids to the Denver Zoo a couple of summers ago, and

they were three and three and a half, 1 1/2 at the time.

And seeing them experience, you know, seeing elephants in person

for the first time, like, oh, this isn't a board book.

This isn't a bedtime story. This is a massive elephant.

And they had like 18 elephants. It was kind of overwhelming.

And every animal they saw there was this amazement that they had

that they had like, and so much so that they were going from

exhibit to exhibit. Like, they couldn't stop taking

in all these different animals that I've never seen this

before. This is awesome.

Or with really little babies, I think.

I think it's like what, three months when they can really see

beyond a, you know, blurriness? And when parents or when babies

recognize their parents, like, they will hear their mom's

voice, their dad's voice, and something about them changes.

Something about their eyes, something about their their face

changes. Often it's a smile or a sense of

wonder, like and then when they're old enough.

But we hunger for it. We want satisfied desires.

We want, we want to be brought to the end of ourselves.

It's really what it is. We want to be brought to the end

of ourselves where we don't have words to to describe, you know,

it's it's why we travel to the mountains.

It's why we have telescopes. We want to see glory.

We want to experience things that bring us to the end of

ourselves. We want to erupt with wonder.

And I get, I love football. I get like the glory moments,

like like it's Super Bowl season.

So like on social media a bunch of like, ESPN and them are just

posting old clips of glory moments from past Super Bowls

that are like, wow or lots of anger.

Like why didn't Marshawn Lynch get the ball to run in right.

We erupt with it and but but we've experienced it in the past

as well. Like, what was it like when you

first believed? Like when Jesus maybe blew up

your life and changed everything?

Maybe in in college. A lot of us were in college when

that happened. But man, I have Jesus.

Life is good. There's no way I can have a bad

day because I have Jesus. Like just walking around campus

talking to God. Life is good.

Wherever you want me to go, I'll go.

Remember when we felt that? Where did that go?

So why does it seem so out of reach when it comes to life with

Jesus now being adults, have we grown too old to experience

wonder? A lot of us the the temptation

or the maybe the rut that we we find ourselves in is this man.

I'm just working towards retirement.

I'm just in the day-to-day routine and slowly it's left.

Slowly I've just settled for every hour kind of having its

same plan. Every night its same plan.

And the kids get older, we get older and we just go through the

the routine. Do we equate growing in maturity

in Christ because that's what we're supposed to do?

Do we equate that with just being generally bored, like we

just don't have fun anymore? That's what it means to be

mature. We just read the same Bible over

and over. We just pray over and over,

asking for God to show us grace and to bless us.

Do we lose the joy? Do we lose the wonder in that

the GK Chester has a really profound take on this?

It's not scripture, but it is profound.

He says this because children have a bounding vitality,

because they are in spirit, fierce and free.

Therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.

They always say do it again and the grown up person does it

again until he is nearly dead. For grown up people are not

strong enough to exalt in monotony, but perhaps God is

strong enough to exalt in monotony.

It is possible that God says every morning do it again to the

sun, and every evening do it again to the moon.

It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies

alike. It may be that God makes every

Daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making him.

It may be that he has the eternal appetite of infancy, for

we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than

we now. God is eternal, right?

He's ageless, timeless. I'm not saying he's 400,000

years old. No, he's eternal, so he doesn't

age. He doesn't grow tired of the

mundane or what we see as routine.

He doesn't grow tired of it. He has the eternal appetite of

infancy. He never grows tired of his

creation. He never grows tired of

creating. He doesn't grow tired of

creating people. He doesn't grow tired of

creating stars. Our kids love going out and

playing in the same yard, day in and day out, same pile of dirt.

Every day is a new adventure. They don't get tired of it.

Every day they wake up and see their parents as their best

friends, and they want to bring you into that, but they

eventually grow up. God doesn't grow up.

God doesn't get bored with us. God doesn't get apathetic

towards his creation. And so I believe what Jesus is

saying here in this passage, to come to him like a child, to

inherit the Kingdom. He's calling us out of our

boredom. Wake up.

The sun is up. I said do it again.

It's going to be 55 outside in February.

Wake up. Be in awe with every from God's

perspective. With every beat of your heart, I

say do it again. Now what will you do with it?

Do it again. Do it again.

Do it again. Routines can be changed, Now we

can. There's definitely unhealthy

habits that should change. But the Speaking of how we

approach scripture, yeah, we we approach the same word of God

that has been read by billions of people over generations.

The same word of God empowered by the Spirit that has changed

the the course of history, that's moved the hearts of the

poor and and royalty that started revivals, that's changed

nations and neighborhoods. It does not need to change.

We do. Something is wrong here.

We need what God has. We need that eternal appetite of

infancy. And I'll get into how here in a

little bit, but I wanted to focus on one other thing,

obstacle I think that's experienced by us, you know,

pretty widespread, and that is cynicism.

Cynicism is pretty much the polar opposite of wonder.

It robs the individual of any sense of wonder.

Have you read through enough history and news and been

through enough political cycles? That pretty much just paints the

darkest picture for your reality.

It hits you in the morning as soon as you open up your phone

and see the headlines. Have you just been so

disillusioned with life that you respond to any kind of hope with

skepticism, encouragement from a friend, or a promise of God?

Have we been let down enough times that we believe things

will never get better? Has apathy become our general

feeling when opening the Bible or being in a room of worship?

Are your expectations of life with Jesus just enough to kind

of get you through the day? Cynicism is a poison that will

kill your joy. It will kill your community.

It will kill your healing. It will kill friendships.

It will kill marriages. It will kill hope.

Cynicism and wonder are at odds. So how do we fight against

cynicism and boredom? What is the pursuit of wonder in

our dependency? This is the fight for joy, you

know. It's not just a really awesome

mural in the back of this room. It is that that is the

inspiration above the mirror that we see every morning.

That is the the sign that we slap when we leave the locker

room. That is the fight.

That is the personal mission for us as we walk with Jesus.

So I'm going to just give you a few things and I'm going to get

out of here first. I want to challenge us to just

genuinely soak in Scripture, and I'm just going to give you one

verse. I don't have it up here, but you

can just jot it down and go to it later.

But it's John 15-9 and Jesus says, as the Father has loved

me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

OK, so we're loved with an infinite, steadfast love.

Just sit in there to soak in this verse somehow, someway.

Be alone with that verse, with a journal with Jesus and ask the

question why do you love me? And don't leave until you have

your answer. Wrestle long and be blown away

by what he shows you. What he says #2 play with kids.

And not just a few minutes either.

I mean play hard, like bluey level of play.

Go hard for seven minutes, drink a coffee, go back for another 7

minutes. I mean, see, put the phone away.

You don't need to record it. Play with them like without any

kind of filter. Pray for strength, pray for

endurance and see their imaginations flourish with with

simple toys or no toys at all. See how they come up with

stories and characters. See how the wonder in the world

flourishes outside and ask God to revive that in you.

Because you once had that. We all once had that and he can

bring it back So easy application.

Volunteer in Roots. Got you you can #3 reading

stories of wonder sometimes it's it's just really hard to you and

your own perspective. Just get into that and what you

need to do. Just get in someone else's

perspective. Get into someone else's story.

Can't say enough about it. Won't get into a whole lot.

A great documentary to watch is it's on YouTube.

It's The Sheep among Wolves. Part 2.

Haven't watched part one. Part 2 is pretty good.

It's about the church in Iran and just unbelievable stories

that will, I think, wake you up to a greater sense of wonder of

what God's doing. But I have come across this,

this other story that wasn't in the documentary, but I heard it

almost six years ago now, and I've shared it before in

previous sermons and I haven't preached here.

So I get to share it and my wife's probably tired of me

sharing it, but it's a good one. So it's the story of refugees

traveling across the Mediterranean.

There was a family on a boat with other migrants traveling

from Turkey to Athens. On the way, they lost their

seven-year old daughter into the water.

Everyone in the crowded boat was looking for her, but couldn't

find her. Suddenly she appeared on the

other side of the boat saying over and over.

A man who walked on the water took me and brought me to the

other side of the boat. The parents dismissed her words

as silly. Upon arriving on the island of

Lesbos, they met a Christian who had made a fire and offered to

talk to them that day without knowing what had happened.

He asked if they would like to know about a God who walked on

water. They started crying.

Man had never used that illustration in evangelism, but

that morning he felt like he had to.

They asked him, Who are you? To which he replied, I'm a

Christian, they said. What do you mean, walk on water?

He opened the Bible and read the story of Jesus walking on the

water. They continued crying.

Our daughter fell off the boat, they explained.

We thought she was crazy because she was dry on the other side.

We didn't understand it, but she kept saying it was a man who

walked on the water. That took me to the other side.

So what does that do to you? What does that do to your heart,

especially as parents? Being in that position, you, you

can only imagine. But to know that Jesus is still

showing up and rescuing people out of the water, that Jesus is

still appearing to people in dreams in unreached places, That

Jesus is still drawing people to himself.

And to hear these stories with clarity is to be brought beyond

yourself. Like brought beyond your

wildness. Dreams of what could be in this

life for you and what Jesus has for you in this life.

And the call is constant. He says follow me, follow me.

Should lead us then out of that practically today to worship

without shame, like if we see him as he is for what he has

done. I will give him everything.

I will lift my hands. I will, I will shout, I will

sing. I will be face down.

I'll be on my knees Even if I don't feel it, Even if I don't

feel it. I will put myself in the

position to seek His face because I will move my body to

pull my heart along. I think maybe that's that's just

a misconception. Like when we feel good, we raise

our hands. But man, I raise my hands when I

don't feel good. I open my hands to receive.

When I feel empty, I am on my knees begging because I need

him, not because I feel satisfied.

And in that I'm asking and pleading with God.

Pull my heart to be in the same posture if I leave without to

pray expectantly. So remember in our prayer that

we are in a genuine conversation with our father who knows

everything. So why withhold any request?

Doesn't matter if it's simple or if it's big, right?

Because he can do anything to pray expectantly, I think also

means no safe prayers. He knows your heart.

He knows what's on your mind. Just say it.

Say what you need and don't pray for a consolation, consolation

prize. You know what I mean?

Like, you know, like when I've prayed for people, like, it's

like, hey, we know God is sovereign, He can do this.

And and when I'm praying, I'm. I'm not asking for everything to

just be OK. I'm asking for healing to happen

in this person's body, in this person's mind, in their life.

I want to pray with confidence and not follow it up with.

Even if you don't, I'm coming before you, father, to heal.

That's what I want. Would you meet us in this?

That's that's how we ought to pray.

So in closing, I want to lay on the plane with us.

So Jesus is calling us to become like children, to be dependent,

to grow and wonder. OK, this may be really easy for

you. You might be in the spot where

man, I am just full of wonder. Life is good.

Love it. Awesome.

Keep it up. This morning may also be very

difficult for you to to hear this, to to dive into this.

And I think what I found out when my family got to Frontier

was, and Frontier is is kind of a hospital.

It's it's a hospital for hurting people that got burned in

relationships in in a previous church, people who are ministry

burnouts, people who are jaded and exhausted and feel like

failures, who are grieving. And yeah, you've been on my

heart as I've as I've prepped for this because I have been in

that the last two years. I have not been in this spot in

the last two years of moving here, man.

I am just seeing Jesus clearly. Like I'm just full of wonder.

I'm overflowing. Where do you want me to go?

Send me. It's not where I've been.

I've been in the wrestling. I've been in the chaos and

feeling condemnation, feeling failure, feeling all of those

things and and I I want you to know this morning where you're

at. God enjoys you.

He enjoys you. He loves you.

But he also likes you, right? He loves you and he likes you.

He likes you. Just because you're not in

ministry anymore doesn't mean that he's cast you aside.

Just because you weren't where you once were, it means it

doesn't mean that he doesn't love you.

And Jesus, I I ask for a mighty work

that you would do in us, in the people in this room, who are

hurting and questioning and are jaded and disillusioned with the

church, with you, with life. And I pray that you would revive

their hearts this morning. Revive their minds.

People that feel like their their minds and their hearts are

miles apart. Would you bring connection?

Would you bring connection to you?

Would you restore what's been broken?

Restore relationships. Restore aching bodies.

Satisfy our desires. Bring us to the end of

ourselves. Bring us to where we just see

you stand in awe. Would this stir a wonder within

us God, that wouldn't. We would see beyond this morning

and see the legacy that we all have in front of us.

The legacy of the generations that would pass through this

church. The legacy of our marriages, the

legacy that we would pass down to our children and how to see

life and life with you in wonder.

Would we overflow in that God? Would you meet us in that we ask

boldly and expectantly to pour out, to fill us, to meet us here

and now. We love you.

Amen.