He is Good | Become Like a Child | Mark 10:13-16 | Coleton Segars

This is what Mark writes.

So that people were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them.

But the disciples rebuked them, and 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.

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

And he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on them and he blessed them.

This is the word of the Lord.

She and Kelsey had a wedding that they were helping lead and do and things like that.

But I love my wife.

One of the things that just an interaction with her that while we were dating, that like just locked it in.

And I was pretty locked in already.

But one of the interactions that just locked in that like I'm going to, you're my person, is an event I call like the pizza heist.

It was a anyway.

So we were in Chicago at Giordano's, which is this deep dish place, very um, it's a historic space, very difficult to get into.

And we went there just just uh us two, and we got there, and it was like it'll be an hour and a half wait to even get a table.

And so I was like, well, this isn't gonna work, and that's frustrating.

That's not gonna work because I want to be deep dish here at this space.

And uh and she looked at me and she was like, Well, there's only one thing to do.

I was like, leave?

And she was like, No, no, no, we've got to steal someone's reservation.

And I was like, What does that mean?

And she said, Well, I've done it before.

She's like, you just wait for them to call someone's name.

And when they don't respond, you say that your name is the Johnsons, and you just take their reservation.

And um, we're Christians, right?

And so I was like, as any leader, uh, you know, Christian leader, I was like, absolutely.

Let's do that thing.

And um, and so it's not our shining moment.

I'm not saying you should do this, just something we did because I wanted some deep dips that day.

Um and so we we sat there and just listened around.

Party of two for Johnson or whatever.

And um they would normally do it, call it three times.

Party of two, Johnson, nothing.

Party of two, Johnson, and then they would say last call, party of two Johnson, and then they just move on to the next one.

And so we weren't just running up there and saying we're the Johnsons while another couple comes up.

No, I swear it's us.

Like it wasn't that.

It was it was we were waiting to the last call, and um and so it happened.

Somebody they called a name, called a name, called a name, last call for the Johnsons, and it was like, here's our moment.

I'm terrified.

Um the Johnsons like actually standing.

I don't know what the Johnsons are, I have no idea what they look like.

And she just didn't care.

Such boldness.

I love it.

Um and so she was like, uh, we're the Johnsons, and they're like, great, follow us.

And I'm like walking, looking behind me, making sure, but the entire time they called us the Johnsons while we ate our deep dish pizza, and it was delicious.

And it didn't make it taste any worse either that we stole it from the the Johnsons.

Um that story didn't go over as well.

I feel like y'all did like maybe don't.

We're following this person.

This person's about to preach us the Bible.

Um we were young, but the point the point, the reason I say that is um Rainey's thing is like there's only one way to get into this space.

There's only one way that we're gonna eat deep dish pizza today.

There's only one way that we're gonna do this.

The reason I say that is not to, you know, just maybe I'm just confessing sin publicly, but also like that's similar to what Jesus says here.

Like, there's one way to experience one thing.

Like I have this kingdom for you, and there's one way in.

And it's not by stealing people's reservations.

He says, there's one way in, and the way in to actually experience what I have for you is actually to experience it like a child, to come in and enter into this space, as a child would enter into this space.

And the difficulty in understanding what he's referencing is many people think of like entrance into the kingdom of God, and they're like, I don't actually know what that means, but really what it means is like just experiencing the life that Jesus has for you.

If you live under the rule and reign of someone, so kids, if you live under the house of your parents, you experience their kingdom.

This is their domain.

They run this thing, and so you experience whatever their kingdom is like.

And so Jesus is saying, hey, for me, if you want to experience my life and the things that I have for you, and all of the peace, the joy, the hope, the gifts, the power, if you want to experience all of those different things.

The only way to actually experience those things, there's only one way in, and is to actually receive those things and to enter in as if you're a little child.

And so what I want to do today was I want to just consider for us what it looks like and three things that we need to really step into, or maybe even just go back to, three things that we could go back to in order to receive the kingdom of God as a little child.

Um, and to be childlike.

And so the difference in childlike and child-ish, every single one that you'll hear today, like there's a way to be childlike, that's a virtue, and there's a way to be child-ish that kind of takes the virtue and then spoils it.

And so one of the things that we should be is dependent, but then there's also this space where it's like if your kid never learns to do anything by themselves, like that's a childish way to do it.

And so we're gonna be talking about childlikeness, not childishness, okay?

And so three ways that we need to be more childlike in order to experience all the things that Jesus has for us inside his kingdom.

The first is we need to be more dependent on him as children are dependent on their parents.

We need to learn and to seek to be more dependent on him the way that kids are dependent on their parents.

Children are incredibly dependent on their parents.

Um I did an experiment even this week.

Rainey was out of town for the weekend, and so I just did an experiment to um track down every single question that my son asks me the moment he woke up until the the time he went to bed.

I did it for five minutes and I had 25 questions, and I couldn't keep going because I was like the sermon would just be his questions.

Um and so uh he wakes up in the morning, and this is I'm just gonna I have a list here.

These are the first 25 questions that he asked me as soon as he woke up in the morning.

First one, obviously, can I start my screen time?

No.

You gotta do your chores.

Can you help me with my chores?

No, they're your chores, not my chores.

Then he finishes his chores.

Can I start my screen time now?

Can you start my screen time timer?

Because we have a timer.

Also, can you make me breakfast?

Do we have any orange juice?

Can you get me some orange juice?

Can you cook my chicken nuggets a little longer?

I cook them, but they weren't cooked properly.

Can I have some peanut butter?

Can you help me with this level in the game?

Can I have some more cheese?

Can you cut my cheese in cubes instead of slices?

Kill me now.

Uh can you can you get me more ketchup?

Can I be finished with my food?

Can I have an Oreo?

No.

Or yes.

Can you can I have two Oreos?

No.

Can I have two Oreos if I eat some strawberries?

Yes.

Can you cut me some strawberries?

Can you go back and cut them the way that mom does?

I'm about to lose my mind.

Can you pause my timer while I go to the bathroom?

I'm your slave.

Can you unpause my timer?

Can you give me five more minutes of time?

Do you want to play a board game?

When are we going to the movies?

Oh my.

At that point, I sh threw my phone away.

I'm not tracking these anymore.

And it didn't happen in rapid fire like that, but it was like that.

That was like, you know, an hour of wake-up time.

He wakes up and it's immediate dependence.

Immediate.

Kids are needy.

And to be a good parent, it is true, to be a good parent, like we have to eventually begin encouraging independence.

It's natural.

You must encourage them to be independent of you, to do things.

Cut your own cheese, bro.

Get your own orange juice.

Like you do, to be a good parent, you have to encourage them to be independent.

The difference is that the Lord never encourages our independence in the scriptures.

He never actually thinks that of us.

He never says, hey, I really feel like you should be doing this by yourself.

He never does it.

He actually goes the other way.

He says, honestly, if you do this by yourself, it's really going to go terrible for you.

You should not do it by yourself.

And so he never says to us, you don't need me anymore.

He never says, you can handle life on your own.

He never says, just do it yourself.

He doesn't say any of those things.

Instead, he actually calls us consistently, depend on me like a child.

And it's challenging for us because as adults, independence is like strength.

And yet for the Lord, dependence is strength, and independence will actually lead us into a space of weakness.

But to us to actually lean on somebody else and to go, like, I can't do it by myself.

I need to ask for help.

That's harder for adults than it is for children.

They naturally do it as a virtue, and we struggle with it.

And yet the Lord consistently calls us to depend on him.

And so just a couple of verses just where he does this.

Jesus says in Matthew 11, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

And so come my way, admit that you're weary and that you're burdened, and then I will give you what you're actually looking for.

The idea and the implication being, you're not going to find rest by yourself.

You're never going to step into a space where you experience what you're longing for in your own strength by yourself.

You have to find that that's only found in me.

Not in independence, but in dependence.

1 Peter 5, cast your cares on him because he cares for you.

Again, this is very childlike.

This is what children do.

Teddy was casting every single care that popped into his mind onto his dad.

And Rainey wasn't there, so I caught them all.

Here's another care and another care and another thing I'm thinking about, another thing I need, and another thing.

And actually the scriptures say, do that.

Be that way with the Lord.

That's what he wants from you.

Cast all your cares on him because he cares for you.

Adults can't handle that.

They get tired and they get weary and they get angry with their kids when they do this thing, but he can actually manage that.

He can hold those things and he actually calls us to do it.

Don't worry about anything.

Instead, talk to me.

Pray about everything.

Tell God what you need.

Jesus says, pray and never give up praying.

Constantly.

Just berate them.

If you've ever, if you have children or you've ever nanny for somebody or something like that, and then you enter into a space where they're constantly asking you questions or they ask the same question over again.

We're about to go on a road trip.

And Teddy is going to go, Are we almost there?

Are we almost there?

Are we almost there?

Are we almost there?

He's going to be persistent, like a child is persistent.

I'm like, read the GPS, man.

Like then you'll know.

But the Lord actually wants us to be persistent in those ways.

He doesn't grow weary of us constantly saying, Can I have another, can I have one more time?

Can we do it again?

Hey, when are you going to do that thing?

Are you going to do that?

He doesn't grow weary of that.

Jesus actually says, pray and never give up.

Be persistent.

Constantly do these things.

Be very needy with me.

Jesus says, I'm the vine, you're the branches.

If you remain in me and I in you, you'll bear much fruit.

But look, in independence, you'll do nothing.

Independently of me, you will do absolutely nothing.

But when you're with me, you can do something.

Something can actually take place.

Fruit will actually grow in your life.

Isaiah 40, I love the verse.

He gives strength to those who are weary, to the dependent.

He increases the power of the weak to the ones that actually need something.

Youth will grow tired and weary, young men stumble and fall.

But those who wait, or those who look eagerly to the Lord, those who depend on him, those are the ones that will actually find what they're looking for.

But those that go, I don't want to look to anybody for help.

I want to do this myself.

I want to find my I want to find my own strength.

I want to find my own way.

I want to do my own thing.

The Lord's like, that's fine, but you're not going to find what you're actually looking for by seeking independence.

The way that you'll actually experience my power and my rule and the things that I have for you, the only way is through dependence.

I'm never going to force those things on you and you won't find them by yourself.

But the great news is I love needy people.

I want dependent people.

And it's those who depend on him.

Hebrews 4 4 16, let us approach his throne of grace to receive mercy, to find the help in our time of need.

Anyone who lacks wisdom, if you're feeling like I don't have enough wisdom, I feel dumb right now, the Lord's like, tell me that you feel that way.

That's fine.

I will never, it says like he'll give to everyone generously without finding fault.

He doesn't look at our weakness in those spaces and see it as something that's wrong.

He actually sees it as that is the space where my power will be made perfect in this weak spot in your life.

And so he is constantly calling us to depend on him.

And the reason is because for you and me, whoever you depend on in your life, whatever thing, whatever person you depend on, you will just experience that person's kingdom.

You will experience that person's rule.

You'll experience what they're like breaking into your life.

And so if you depend on money, you will experience what money can do for you.

And money can do a lot, but it can't do everything.

And so you'll experience what money can do for you if that's where you depend.

If you depend on yourself, you'll experience what you can do for your life, but you won't experience what anyone else can do in your life because you're constantly dependent on yourself.

If you depend on a relationship or something like that to give your life meaning to those things, you will find that it will produce in your life whatever it has available in and of itself.

And most things are just empty.

And so whatever you depend on, you'll experience that thing.

If it's your job, like I'm just so dependent on my job to give me everything that I need, you'll experience the rule and reign, the kingdom of your job.

And maybe that's good to a certain extent.

But what the Lord is saying is like He's actually filled with joy, He is actually filled with peace.

He is actually full and wants to pour out.

Everything else is empty and promising fullness.

And so to actually look towards those things, to give you something that's rich and full, it's like they just cannot provide that, but he actually can.

And so wherever we depend is ultimately what our life will be shaped by and what our life will be defined by.

And that's why he's saying, I want to shape your life.

If you allow those other things to shape your life, if you allow your life to be defined by those other things, there will be some pockets of goodness, but it will be mostly just stealing from you somewhere along the way.

But if you would look to me, I don't steal from you.

I pour out, I give, that's who I am.

And so he wants us to experience his kingdom and not anyone else's.

And so the question is, what are you depending on?

What are you dependent on?

And a couple of questions for you just to figure out what you're dependent on are here.

If you want to figure out what you're dependent on, you can ask the question, where do you turn to for joy?

Or is it like, this is it?

Anytime I need to feel good, this is where I go.

I lean on this thing, I turn to this thing.

What do you do to find peace?

What are you dependent on for your peace?

Some people it's like, I gotta watch the news, which is crazy to me.

I don't I wouldn't bring any peace.

It'd make me angry.

Or scared, one.

And what do you do to find peace?

Where do you run to feel safe?

And sometimes it's just numbing out.

I don't feel safe, but I'd rather feel nothing.

And so you're dependent on something that numbs you.

What do you do?

Uh what do you think you need for your life to be finally complete if I just have this thing?

As soon as this happens in my life, as soon as I hit this space, as soon as I have this thing.

If that thing is anything other than the Lord, then you're dependent on something else.

And you will experience the rule and reign of that kingdom, which is primarily that thing going just a little bit more, just a little bit longer, just one more year, just a little bit more money, whatever that thing is, it's just constantly pulling you a little bit further and never actually satisfying the need that you actually have.

And so that's what we're dependent on.

And that's the king that we'll expect we'll experience primarily.

And so Jesus is saying, Hey, in order to experience mine, you need to be dependent like a child.

It's hard and it can be scary, and nobody wants to be childlike.

We all want to be independent, our you know, true selves and all the rest of it.

But at the end of the day, he's like, This is how you'll experience my kingdom in your time.

All right, so that's the first.

Dependent on him like a child.

The second, we need to trust him like a child, trust their parents.

Trust him like a child, trusts their parents.

And I realize, again, you can kind of look at this and go, well, you know, children sometimes don't trust the words that I say and stuff like that.

And I understand that, but there's a there's a space and a pocket of time where they really do, like just almost could believe anything that you say.

One time I was uh I had a hundred dollar bill and then a fake gold coin, and I was looking at Teddy and he loves the color gold, and I was like, which one do you want?

And he chose the fake gold coin, and I got the hundred dollar bill, and I was like, You made a good choice, and just lied to him.

I'm those are okay.

I don't actually lie to my kids, I'm not stealing your reservations at restaurants, but anyways, it was just interesting to be like he believed that one was heavier in weight and more valuable than the other one, and it was like a little coin that you put in like a coin slot of an arcade, but he thought this is the most important thing.

But they are, they just they just trust their parents, and maybe my kid doesn't trust me anymore.

But what childlike people normally are very trusting.

And so I read something about uh the play Peter Pan that was produced like in 1904 uh that kind of illustrates this really well.

But back in 1904, uh JM Barry produced a play, uh, Peter Pan, and shortly after the play was seen, there were all these reports of children jumping off their beds trying to fly, like the people in the play.

And so J.

M.

Barry actually had to write something about this and change something in the play, and this is what he said.

He says, After the first production of the play, Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up, in 1904, I had to add something to the play at the request of parents.

It was that no one would be able to fly until they received fairy dust.

This was because many children had gone home and tried flying from their beds and needed surgical attention.

And I just thought it was hysterical.

I mean, it's terrible, right?

Like it's bad that they need surgical attention.

But I do think there's something sweet about that.

Like they watch this play and they're so someone has told me how to fly.

I've never tried jumping off my bed.

Understood.

And they run immediately home and they try and do this thing.

And so he did, he like, we have to add something into the play so that they go, Oh, I am thinking happy thoughts, but I don't have any fairy dust, so I shouldn't jump off the bed and try and fly right now.

And so that was an actual thing they had to do because they're so naturally just seeing something, hearing something, and just trusting that particular thing.

And again, I know that that can spoil and I know that that can be a bad thing, and I'm not calling you, and I don't think Jesus is either, to just naively trust every single thing that you hear or be that way with every single person.

But I do think that he is actually saying, I do want you to be the way those children were with that play, I do want you to be that way with me.

I want you to trust me almost completely blindly, even when it doesn't make any sense.

I want you to trust me completely.

I want you to look at my words and to see my word, to hear my word, and I want you to absolutely trust me and believe me the way that a child normally trusts and believes their parents.

Even when it doesn't make sense.

Jesus wants us to go, but I'm choosing to believe you, even though you're asking me to do something that doesn't really make sense in my mind, it doesn't make sense in my heart, I don't see how this is gonna work.

I just believe that you know better than me.

And so I'm gonna choose to trust you even outside of my own understanding because this doesn't make any sense.

And he wants us to ultimately read his word, to hear his words preached and taught, and go like, he said it, therefore it must be true, even though it doesn't make sense to me.

And if you think about it, if you read the scriptures and you read the Old Testament, if you look at all the different spaces where people followed him in ways and then experienced power beyond themselves and miracles and just incredible things happening from God in their midst, it normally began with God saying something that didn't make sense to anybody.

And so you can almost just run through beginning to end to all the different people where all the stories that we love to tell in the scriptures.

And it's like it normally happened because the Lord said, Go and do this, and I know that doesn't make any sense, but do it anyways, and you'll see something really cool.

And then they go and do that thing.

So for instance, Noah, go build an ark, build a boat, and um there's gonna be a flood of rain.

It's like, what's rain?

We've never seen any rain before.

It's like, yeah, there's gonna be a lot of it.

You're gonna need that ark.

You really need that.

And so he does this thing that makes no sense to him.

And there's no explanation other than, hey, there's a flood coming, even though you don't even know what that sounds like or looks like.

You're gonna need that ark.

And he's like, okay.

And so for a hundred years or however long, he builds this ark.

Abraham and Sarah, even though you're both past the age of having children and you're old, and probably not the time to like be together in these ways, keep being together in those ways, and you're gonna have a children even though you're near a hundred.

And it's like, that makes no sense.

It's like, I know, but this is the way it's gonna work.

Moses, he tells Moses, God says, Go speak to Pharaoh, and I will free Israel from the bondage of slavery.

Just speak to him.

I'll take care of the rest.

You speak to him, and from your speaking, what will end up happening is by my power will be on display, and then you guys will be set free.

I just need to go talk to the person who could kill you.

And he's like, he's gonna kill me.

He's like, he won't.

He could, but he won't.

Israel tells Israel to go into the promised land.

I he's like, I will.

The nations are gonna be double your size, they're bigger than you, stronger than you.

They got chariots and all the rest of it, and like you have nothing.

But you're gonna roll in there.

I'm gonna drive them out from your midst.

Like, go.

And you'll actually see that take place.

And it's like, this doesn't make any sense.

And many of them actually say that.

That doesn't make any sense.

We're not doing that.

And then they miss out on what the Lord actually had.

But then two of them, and then the younger ones, they actually do watch God do this thing and fight for them, and they take land away from people that are bigger, bigger and stronger than them.

Joshua.

Joshua, you should march around the city of Jericho, and that's how you'll be victorious and call cause the walls to fall down.

Just walk around the city, and then the walls will fall down.

It's like this is the worst battle plan ever.

This doesn't make any sense.

But that's how it happens.

Gideon, go with 300 men.

Sherry talked about this last week.

300 men, go, don't no weapons, 300 men, and I'll deliver the Midianites into your hand.

It's like, again, maybe we should put someone else in charge of like military strategy and stuff because you're really bad at this.

And then it happens and they see this thing happen.

Mary, this would have been just weird in general.

Mary, you're gonna have a son, even though you've been with no one.

Uh, but the Holy Spirit's gonna impregnate you.

So if you just wait, you know, like, and like that was her that was her experience with this thing.

It was like that, those are the words from this angel that's gonna like.

I don't know how this is going to work.

That doesn't make any sense.

That's never happened before.

And I'm like, I'm just telling you that's the way it's going to happen.

And then those things end up happening.

And time and time and time again, none of the stuff made sense.

And if they had said, hey, look, thanks for the feedback.

Thank you for your words.

Thank you for speaking to me, sending someone to speak for me, but like honestly, that doesn't make any sense.

If they would have said that and then chosen not to trust it, they would have missed out on all these things that we actually read in the scriptures.

But they heard something that didn't make sense.

They took steps of faith anyways, and they trusted like children, and then they saw God do a thing.

And so for them, they experienced things beyond their understanding because they were actually walking in commands beyond their understanding.

I don't understand this, but I'm going to do it anyways.

And then they see things that no one's ever seen.

And it's because you're doing things you've never ever thought to do because the Lord has told you to do it.

And I think the exact same thing is true for us.

There are so many times where he calls to us and he says things in the scriptures that we should go and do because he's trying to pour his kingdom into our hearts and into our lives.

He wants us to experience actually what we long to experience as well.

But we have this space where it's like, I just don't know how I'm going to get that.

And our normal ways of getting it aren't working.

But then the Lord says, I want you to do this and aim this way and walk this way and follow this path.

And we're like, I don't see how that's going to change anything.

And if we choose to just deny that thing, then we'll actually not walk in these steps where we see things beyond what we thought was possible.

Instead, what we'll actually see is like a lot of what we can do.

And so consistently he's calling to us and asking us to trust him like children.

So for instance, love your enemies.

Should love your enemies.

As adults, that's hard.

We know that it's a command, but it's hard because it's like if we choose to not trust that, we argue with him and we say, or make up some excuse and say, like, I don't know who's my actual enemy, or you don't know my situation, or something like that.

And the command is very simple.

You should just go and love your enemy.

That's what you should do.

Whoever you would claim is your enemy, you should love that person.

What does love look like?

And then as adults, we have a lot of questions and a lot of thoughts and a lot of things, but childlike trust would just be like, I'm just gonna step forward in that thing.

But because we struggle with that childlike trust, we don't love our enemies, we yell at our enemies, we cuss our enemies, we try and prove our enemies wrong, and then we wind up experiencing our kingdom instead of what he actually wants to be poured out into our lives because we're not trusting his words.

We're going, that's stupid.

You don't love your enemies, you crush them.

And so because we're doing that, we experience what we can actually do in our own strength and not experiencing what he actually wants to do in our lives.

The same with forgive people.

Forgive people the way that Christ has forgiven you.

Christ has never held a sin against you.

Don't hold sins against other people, anyone, regardless of what that thing is.

Forgive everyone the way that Christ has forgiven you.

And what we think is as adults, we're like, well, if I forgive them, then I'll lose.

Like this will be a loss for me.

Like, I don't know how this is gonna work.

I don't know how I'm gonna be taken care of.

Like, my life will get worse, not better, if I forgive that person.

And so we reason in our own minds instead of trusting like children.

And then again, we experience what we can get and what we can do and what unforgiveness actually brings into our lives.

He says that sin is poison.

Cut sin out of your life.

Do whatever it takes to make it physically impossible for you to sin.

Cut sin out of your life.

But we think, ah, I don't think it's that bad.

I don't think it's doing that much.

And then again, we experience our kingdom instead of his kingdom.

Be generous, be sacrificial.

Giving away your money will actually set you free.

It will not put you into bondage.

And we're like, I don't think that's right.

I think giving away things and being sacrificial and doing those things, I think that will actually steal from me and it won't actually lead me into freedom.

And he's like, then you will just continue to walk in experiencing what your kingdom can do for yourself and what your thoughts can do for yourself instead of experiencing what his are and what he actually wants to do.

There are so many things that Jesus says that don't make sense to our minds.

Do not worry, don't be anxious for anything, do not be afraid.

Honor everyone, everyone above yourself.

Repay evil with good.

Don't retaliate.

Pray and never give up.

Seek first the kingdom of God, and then everything that you actually need will be added to you.

Just on and on and on and on and on.

And the call is like just childlike trust me in this thing.

Go to the bed and jump off and try and fly.

I want you to actually trust me enough to practice these things and to do these things, to believe that I'm not actually lying to you.

I want you to trust me like children so that you take steps of faith in these spaces and experience what I actually have for you.

The childlike, the one that will trust him in these spaces.

They will trust in the Lord with all that.

Some of like we have these favorite verses.

Trust in the Lord, Proverbs 3, 5 and 6.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

They're on mugs and on like pieces of old wood in our houses or something.

They're hanging on the wall.

And it's like, that's so great.

Like, what a beautiful trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding.

But that's so challenging, and that flies right in the face of what we actually want to do, which is like, actually, let me hear your words first and then see if I actually want to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding because primarily I want to lean on my own understanding.

As an adult, I have understanding now.

I've got experience.

I want to do my thing because I know what will work and what won't work.

And in many ways, we live as if we're wiser than God.

We never say that.

We like, He's all wise, he's omniscient, he knows all this stuff.

But we live in these spaces and go, I know what you said, but I think I'm just gonna do what I think instead because I think this will work better for me.

And then consistently, what you experience in your life from that thing is you will just experience your kingdom and not his.

And yours is worse than his.

Mine is worse than his.

What you can do in your life is not as good as what he can do in your life, and nor is it as good as what he actually wants to do in your life.

And so we need to trust him like children with childlike faith.

That's the second.

And number three, number three, we need to submit to his authority like children do to their parents.

Submit to his authority like children do to their parents.

Again, it can spoil.

Sometimes you ask a kid to do something and it's it goes really badly and it's not good.

Um, but there is the space where childlike, when they're children, where it's like they don't have the option.

Their bedtime is set for them when they're young enough, their food is set for them, like what they eat, when they eat, those types of things.

Um kids are forced to share their toys.

If you have a baby and it's not sharing, it's pulling, it's like, no, you need to share.

And then the baby has to share and do that thing.

I my dad used to, whenever my brother and I would get in an argument, my dad used to make us shake hands and make up.

And like I was a kid, and so I was under his authority.

Like I was forced to submit to that.

Like I had to.

But it was a space where he was like, I want you to like shake hands, and he forced us to do it.

I think many times, if like in some of the relationships that we have in our marriages, it'd be nice like if you were just forced, you gotta shake hands and make up.

You cannot get divorced, you have to shake hands and make up.

Like that would actually make things uh a little bit, maybe it wouldn't make things better.

But there is a space where children are actually told to, you have to obey.

You must submit.

And for the most part, there are, I mean, children are just naturally submissive to their parents.

But then they grow up, and my kid right now is in a season of just asking why about everything.

It's like you need to go to bed.

Why?

Because you just need to, why?

And then it's why, why, why, why, why.

And I'm like, I just want you to, I want you to just do it.

And then shh, that's what I want.

And as much as like, as much as I want that, I was convicted about that the other day.

I was like, as much as I want that from him, like, stop asking why and just do what I say without me having to explain 30 reasons why I want you to do the thing.

I want that from him, and yet I don't do the exact same thing to the Lord.

The Lord asks something to me, I'm like, but why?

And he's like, so you want something that you're not willing to give to me.

And I'm like, well, it's different.

I'm it's different.

But they do.

They grow up, they start asking why, and then kids naturally are supposed to, they're supposed to become adults who then their parents get to advise them.

But then at that point, when they're adults, uh, their parents who are also adults can't command their obedience anymore.

Uh obedience becomes an option.

I can obey my parents, or honestly, I'm a I'm an adult.

I can do whatever I want.

And so I can use your words as advice, but obedience is optional.

And that's the natural progression for children when they grow up and they advance to adult ages and things like that.

But again, that's different than what the Lord wants for us.

He never says, hey, eventually you're gonna get so you're gonna be so smart, like a special snowflake, smartness, and like you're gonna have this space where you just advance beyond me and you no longer obedience to me is optional because you can just do whatever you want.

You you know exactly what you're doing.

He never says that.

He is always like, obedience should never be optional, never treat it as optional.

You should always be in a space where you recognize you are authority, you are king, and I am subject, and I am someone you deeply love, but I'm also someone that's under authority.

And he calls us consistently to never progress outside of his authority.

He never wants us to see his authority in our lives as optional.

And the reason is again, similar to the way that we depend, whose ever authority that you're under, whoever their authority, whatever authority you live under, you experience what their rule and their reign is like.

And so all of us have had bad bosses, like, or maybe you haven't, maybe you are that boss, sorry.

Um, but like all of us have worked in places where you're like the rule and reign of this person's authority is like, is just the worst.

Um, and you've experienced what that rule and reign is like.

If you've had a bad boss or you have a bad coach, or you had bad, a bad parent, or bad parents, or you just had a bad experience.

You experience what it's like to be under the authority of someone who should not have authority over you, and yet they do, and you experience their rule and reign.

And what God is saying is like, you'll never experience that in under me, under my authority.

My authority actually comes under this space where like there is unconditional love, unconditional forgiveness, there's peace beyond your understanding, there's all those things.

And so, underneath my authority, you experience all the stuff that you actually long for.

And that's why he's saying, like, never, never interact outside of these things because you'll miss out on what's actually able to be experienced underneath the authority of me.

And so, what Jesus is saying here is that he wants us to be childlike and allow the childlike submission of a child to be submitting to his authority so that we experience what he has for us.

And you see in the gospels, you see through the scriptures, you see what his authority is actually like.

And so, if you look at some of the gospel stories, Jesus uses his authority.

He tells a paralytic man, I want you to stand up.

And the paralytic man, under authority of Jesus, responds to the authority of Jesus, stands up, and he actually does something he hasn't been able to do, maybe his entire life, his walk.

Jesus tells another man, like, hey, you're blind.

I'm gonna spit mud on your eyes.

Sorry about that.

I'm gonna do that, and then I need you to go wash under my authority, do what I say.

Go wash in the pool of saloon.

And that man, under authority, follows Jesus' words, under authority, goes to the pool of saloon, washes his eyes, and all of a sudden he can see.

He tells another man, uh, the or the lepers, there's all these ten lepers, and they're like, Lord, have mercy on us, have mercy on us, cleanse us.

And he says, Go show yourself to the priest.

And it's like, okay, well, I'll just walk and show myself with the priest.

And it says, as they're on their way, they're under authority.

As they're on their way, they're cleansed.

They weren't cleansed when they did a certain thing, like as they obeyed the thing, as they as they submitted themselves underneath the authority of the king, they experienced the kingly reign breaking out into their lives.

And his kingly reign is just filled with hope and peace and power and goodness.

And under his authority, they experience those things.

And that is what is available to us.

That's what's available inside a dynamic with him, with him as our authority.

And that's why he's saying, look, the only way to experience what I have for you, the only way to actually enter into this thing that's so beautiful that you you actually long for, the only way to actually do that is to experience it as a child.

Because even in our adultness, like what we want to do is we want to reason, we want to find our own way, we want to chart our own course.

And he's like, that's fine, and you can do that.

That's an option.

But if you choose to walk that way, you're not gonna experience what I actually have for you.

There's spaces with me where you never need to progress past my dependence or depending on me.

There's space with me where you never need to progress past like I know better than my parents now.

You'll never know better than me.

There's space with me where you'll never progress past being submission and being under submission to me.

You'll never get past that place.

And it's not because I'm trying to hurt you, it's because I actually have something really good for you.

And he doesn't want to hurt us, but he does want to rule us.

He wants to be our king and our ruler.

And again, it's not to make things worse for us.

It's so that he, because he understands, underneath that is the protective measure of his kingdom.

And underneath that is where we experience what he actually has for us.

And so this is why he wants us to be childlike.

He wants us to be led by him, to submit to his authority.

And if we do those things, then we'll experience what his rule and reign is like.

And if we choose not to do those things, you'll experience the kingdom of somebody else, primarily your own.

And you'll experience what you're able to do on your own, which some of you are really impressive.

I'm pretty impressive too.

I'm pretty proud of myself most of the time.

Not like a sinful way, hopefully.

But I just know that I cannot.

There's still this angst and these longings and these things that swell up in my heart and stuff.

And I'm like, I know that I can't aim that anywhere and satisfy that in and of myself.

I know that most of the trouble that I get into was because I got myself into it.

I led myself there, and he's never led me into those spaces.

And so he's like, don't depend on yourself.

Don't fall under your own authority and step outside of mine.

Don't trust yourself over trusting me.

I actually want to lead you into a good space.

But the only way is not to be forced, he's not going to force you, but it's to receive it like a child.

And so we need to become like little children again.

Jesus' point is that in order to experience what his kingdom is like, we have to be willing to become more childlike.

And you actually see, and we'll talk about this uh in two weeks, you actually see a picture of someone who cannot receive this idea of becoming more childlike when it when it gets to the ruler, the rich young ruler in the next um section here.

And so you have, if you know the story, the rich young ruler comes up to Jesus, and his words, we don't have it on the screen, but his words are hey, um, he's got all the money in the world, and yet he knows like I'm still lacking something.

There's something in my heart that's not right.

There's something that I'm still missing.

What am I missing?

And then Jesus says, Oh, here's one thing you lack.

Here's the only thing you lack.

You got everything in the world, but one thing you lack.

You need to go sell all the stuff that you have and give it to the poor, and then come follow me.

And Jesus basically says, like, I want you to depend on me.

I want you to trust the crazy thing I just told you to do, which is sell everything you got and give it to the poor.

And then I want you to submit to me.

I want you to be under my authority, follow me, let me lead you.

Don't lead yourself anymore.

And the man hears all of that.

He does not depend on Jesus, he depends on his wealth and his money.

He cannot trust the crazy thing Jesus just said because you sound like a lunatic.

Go sell all my stuff, give it to the poor.

What are you crazy?

Like, what am I gonna live off of?

That's nuts.

He can't trust that.

And then he doesn't follow Jesus, he can't submit to Jesus' authority.

Instead, he walks away from Jesus.

And the testimony of his life says that he walked away sad.

And it's like, there's your option.

You can live under the rule and reign of Jesus, or you can walk away sad.

That's the other thing that's available in the world.

And you actually see in this text here, I believe it's verse 16 that we have on the screen.

You see that the rich young ruler's experience is very different than the children.

The childlike.

This is what Jesus does with the childlike, takes them in his arms, placed what placed his hands on them, and he blessed them.

That's what it says.

And so the rich young ruler walks away sad.

And what's great about this particular verse is the parents brought their children to Jesus just for him to lay his hand on them.

And Jesus goes above and beyond.

He's like, I'm not just gonna lay my hand on you, I'm gonna scoop you up, hold you in my arm, you're gonna experience my love, my care, my blessing.

I'm gonna do far more than what you actually thought you actually got here for.

You wanted me to just place my hands on them, I'm gonna do far more than that.

And so one walks away sad, one is submitting.

There's no more dependence than actually being held by another man.

Can you imagine somebody like, hey, uh uh Brett, could you just pick me up and side saddle me?

Like, like that'd be kind of weird.

But it would feel like it would feel so vulnerable.

Like, hey man, this is so weird.

But there is a space here.

It's like, what did the childlike experience from Jesus?

The childlike from Jesus, what they experience from him is they experience a ton of care.

They experience a ton of love, they experience a ton of safety and a lot of blessing, and they experience far more than what's actually available and what they actually thought they were gonna get.

And so I think for us, you're presented with two options.

You can walk away sad, trusting in your own thing, knowing that even though I have everything, I still feel empty.

Or you can actually submit to this person who's going, I'm telling you, what I have is far better.

But the only way to experience it is if you become as a child.

And so my encouragement to you is to figure out what it looks like to become more childlike in your dependence, more childlike in your trust in his word, more childlike in submitting to his authority.

And I I liked my childhood.

I it was there were some parts in it that were very, very hard.

Um, but I remember being nine, I remember being Teddy's age and wanting to be done with childhood, just dealing with some stuff, dealing with hard stuff, and just going like one day, one day I'll be out of this, I'll be able to make my own decisions, and I won't have to deal with that stuff anymore.

And so the idea of like going back to childhood and trying to be childlike can feel very vulnerable and it can make like I'm like, I don't want to do that.

Even while I was dealing with this text, I was like, this text is so stupid, like I struggle with this so much.

I don't want to become more childlike because becoming more childlike makes you more vulnerable.

Trusting instead of like, I'm just gonna do this my own way, it makes you more vulnerable.

Being under somebody else's authority makes me lose control and puts my life into their control.

And so becoming more childlike makes us more vulnerable.

But the way to actually step forward in that, to become more childlike, is to ultimately feel more safe.

It's like psychologically proven that when kids feel safer, they will stay childlike longer.

And if you remove safety from them, you steal their innocence from them, and then all of a sudden they become more adult-like, wise beyond their years is the word we use, but it actually is you've stolen their innocence from them.

But if you can create a safe environment, they will stay childlike a lot longer.

And so for us to become childlike, the only way to do that is to actually feel safe.

And to me, the only way to actually feel like it's I'm safe enough to actually move back into childlikeness is to look at Jesus on the cross.

And I think that's the only way that we'll actually get to a point where we feel like I can step back into a childlikeness is we have to see him on the cross.

Because on the cross, you see, Jesus shows us that we can depend on him.

He is the most dependable person because on the cross, he is he's showing us, like, hey, I will do whatever you can depend on me to the point where I will literally lay down my life for you.

You I am that trustworthy, you can depend on me that much.

On the cross, you see that Jesus is trustworthy and that you can trust what he says because he says, I love you so much that I'm willing to die for you.

And then he goes and does that thing.

And so you learn on the cross that he is safe enough to trust because he's trustworthy.

He'll actually fulfill his words even if it cost him his life.

On the cross, Jesus shows us that we can follow him, that you can submit to his authority.

Because on the cross, he used his power.

He had power and he had authority, and he used both his power and his authority, not to save himself, but to protect us.

And so any leader that chooses to sacrifice themselves to save someone else, they're worthy of considering following them.

And now he it says that he constantly intercedes, so he currently uses his power and his new authority ruling over heaven and earth to intercede before the Father for us.

And so anybody that does something like that is safe enough to actually depend on, safe enough to actually be in the uh to have as authority over us because he has proven, I have proven to you I love you enough to die for you.

You can depend on me, you can trust me, I will do what I say, even if it costs me.

And I promise you that I will never abuse my authority over your life for something that's hurtful to you.

I have only ever always used my power and authority to bless you, and that's what you can do as well.

And so if we're going to become more childlike and enter back into a vulnerable space with him, one of the things that we have to see is see him on the cross doing those things for us so that we feel safe enough to actually move into that space with him.

Let me pray.

Thank you for calling us back into this space where many of us, uh, me included, don't really want to go.

But Lord, I pray that the only way in is to actually hear from you, to believe what you're saying, to believe it like a child, and then step forward into it.

That there are things that we long to experience in our lives that we're just not going to get to on our own.

And so, God, I pray that you help us to see you as the one who is willing to give up everything for our benefit, everything for our good, so that we can actually trust you in this space.

I pray that you would do that for us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.