Like a Child

Well, guys, we are actually getting pretty close to the last leg of something that we started way back in February called following Jesus.

This has been something that will take us pretty much to the end of the year.

We're going through the entire book of Matthew, and we're doing our best just to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and learn from him.

To try to see everything through his eyes and the eyes of those who followed him in the first place.

We want to learn about the context of what he said and what he did.

We want to learn as much as we can because there's never going to be a day where you can say, I'm done learning about Jesus.

I've learned all that there is to know.

He is infinite.

You can never stop.

We've tried to do this pretty literally.

We've tried to literally follow Jesus along on his journey.

And so we've been using a lot of maps.

We have this is kind of like our main map here of Israel.

You can see the Mediterranean Sea there on the top left.

You've got the Dead Sea at the bottom right, the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus did a lot of his ministry there in the top right.

We'll zoom in a little bit on that.

This gives you more of an idea of sort of the stomping grounds of Jesus in his life.

And then we'll put the regions that existed at that time in the world on there.

So that if you're ever reading your Bible and you read some of these words like Judea and Samaria and Galilee, that's where Jesus was.

And we've just been following Jesus along.

Now, the last time we saw Jesus move, he was at this mountain in the northern part of Israel called Mount Hermon.

And it was there that we have what's called the transfiguration.

Jesus transformed in front of the eyes of his closest disciples, and they got to see who he really is.

And from Mount Hermon, Jesus goes all the way back down to Capernaum, which is where he had kind of set up shop.

It's not where he was born, it's not where he grew up, but Capernaum is his home base for all of his years of ministry, right there on the Sea of Galilee.

And so he's back in Capernaum, and today we get to launch this brand new little miniseries within our following Jesus study called VIPs.

VIPs, that's the name of this little series.

Because over the course of the next few weeks, in these stories that we're going to look at, we see Jesus highlight who, in his eyes, the most important people are.

We see Jesus sort of highlight for us what it looks like to be a model citizen in the kingdom of God.

Who are the kinds of people that Jesus points to and says, be more like them?

What does it look like to be a person that Jesus commends?

And as we're going to find out today, it often looks very different than the kind of people that our world might consider VIPs.

We're going to jump in with Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

I'm going to read this set of verses, ten verses in their entirety, and then we'll kind of break it down as the morning goes on.

So Matthew 18, 1 through 10 says, About that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

And really they're asking which one of us is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

So Jesus called a little child to him, and he put the child among them.

And he said, I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

Anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.

But if you cause one of these little ones who trust in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.

What sorrow awaits the world because it tempts people to sin.

Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting.

So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off, throw it away.

It's better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into the eternal fire with both of your hands and feet.

And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out, throw it away.

It's better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Beware that you don't look down on any of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.

This is an interesting teaching.

One of the reasons I love going through scripture, if you're new to his hands, that's how we typically do things.

Last year we went through the entire story of the Bible.

This year we're going through the whole book of Matthew, and we're not skipping anything.

So we don't get to sort of pick and choose the easy things that Jesus said and the things that everyone likes.

It's not like a greatest hits album or a bunch of crowd pleasers.

Sometimes you get to stuff that's really hard.

And this teaching is kind of two-pronged.

On one hand, it's aspirational, it's Jesus going, look at kids.

Kids are awesome.

Kids are amazing.

We should be more like kids.

Let's look at what we can learn from little children.

Let's model ourselves after them.

And you're like, yeah, kids are great.

Most of the time.

They're great.

But then it takes a pretty big turn.

So one part of it's aspirational, Jesus being like, be like kids, and the other part of it, Jesus is like, listen, if any of you ever do anything to any of these kids, I'll kill you.

Right?

I mean, kind of.

He doesn't say I'll do it, but he says, you know, it'd be better if you had a millstone tied around your neck and thrown into the bottom.

That would make you sink very fast, by the way, and you're drowned in the depths of the sea.

So it's equal parts.

Let's do this, and you better not do this.

It's a tough, it's a really tough teaching.

But I'm so excited to explore this today because Jesus is telling us first and foremost that if we want to be the kind of people that are the greatest in the eyes of God, we should look at children.

Now the context of this is interesting because really it comes off of the disciples arguing about which one of them is the greatest.

We get a little bit more detail in Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

Then his disciples began arguing about which of them was the greatest.

But Jesus knew their thoughts, so he brought a little child to his side, and then he said to them, Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me.

And anyone who welcomes me also welcomes my father who sent me.

Whoever is the least among you is the greatest.

This is sort of a theme in the teachings of Jesus.

That the least in the eyes of the world are often the greatest in the eyes of God.

That seems kind of backwards, but makes total sense if you think about it, because it's possible to be someone who values the things of this world the most, and is the most successful in the eyes of the world, and is the most celebrated in the eyes of the world, and simultaneously be someone who couldn't have more different values than God.

We often find ourselves pursuing things that in our minds are important and meaningful, and then maybe sometimes in pursuit of that, we actually get them and we realize this is not what I thought it was, this doesn't matter at all.

I don't know if you've ever done that in life, you've pursued something that you thought would bring you joy and happiness, and you found out later on it was just a fool's errand.

I had that a few years ago.

By the way, if you're a guy with a man cave, this is not a knock to you.

I think man caves are awesome, but I had one for a minute and it brought me no joy.

I'll explain.

When my children were much younger, I decided I needed a man cave.

We had this basement, and in the basement there was like our main little playroom, kids' room, and that's where all the kids' toys were, and they were just running around like crazy and it was loud, and they were watching kids' TV shows.

And can I just say for a second, maybe this is me being an old guy and just bemoaning uh the world today?

Kids' TV's worse than it's ever been before.

It's so much worse.

Like if you were a part of my generation and you had a little brother or sister, you might have had to tolerate them watching Barney.

I don't know if any of you remember the giant purple dinosaur Barney.

I don't know if he's still around.

Barney's the worst, right?

Barney's just something about Barney as like a fourth grader with a little brother who watched Barney.

It just made me angry.

It made me want to fight Barney.

I don't know what it was.

But I'm gonna tell you this, and you may not be familiar with the way things have gone, the world has changed.

Barney has nothing on Blippy.

Alright?

You guys know who Blippy is?

Let's see this guy.

I will take a thousand Barney's.

I would be Barney over Blippy.

Like this blippy guy.

Number one, if you like Blippy, I apologize if you are Blippy.

Uh maybe he watches this.

I don't know.

Repent.

I don't know what to tell you.

Like, stop.

No, if it brings children joy, fine.

But oh, if you've ever had to sit through five minutes of blippy, you go, am I in hell?

Is this what is this what it is?

This is what it is.

Blippy's on loop in hell.

It might be.

I'm just saying.

I'm just joking.

I'm so sorry.

Alright.

Sorry.

That was I say things I shouldn't say.

But this is what my children were watching.

This is what brought them joy.

And I was like, I can't stand this.

I gotta get out of here.

I gotta get out of here.

So I uh I was like, I need a man cave.

I need a man cave.

I need a place in the house where I can just go and turn on the game and just action movies, whatever it is.

And so I spent a couple of years actually slowly but surely acquiring the pieces to have this man cave in this room we had in the basement.

It was perfect, it had concrete walls, it was like a cave.

It had no windows, no light, and I got a secondhand couch, and I got a secondhand TV, and finally it was time.

The man cave was complete.

It took like a year, year and a half, and I remember there was a big game on.

I was excited to watch it, so I went to my man cave, I shut the door, I got some LED blue lights just for like ambient lighting, you know, stupid stuff like that.

And uh, and then I turned the game on and I shut the door, and I remember at the moment thinking it was awesome for like five minutes, and then I could hear my kids playing in the other room, and I could hear their laughter and I could hear their joy, and I just felt weird.

Like I've worked really hard for this, this has been like a dream of mine for years, and now I'm in here and the door's shut, and I hear my children out there, and I don't want to be in here.

This isn't what I thought it was.

And so I ended up opening the door, and not long after that, Megan came to me and she said, you know, Lily, our only girl, has three brothers, and she just needs a place where her girl stuff can be because the boys don't respect it.

And I was like, oh man.

And so my man cave really sort of became a princess palace, and Lily and I shared it together.

Like it had a mini fridge uh filled with Diet Dr.

Peppers for me, and then there was a little play kitchen on the other corner, and I would sometimes be in there watching a game, and Lily would turn on her shows that she loved to watch.

And what's crazy is that years later, and she's 10 now, which is insane.

You know, I have no joyful memories in that space that don't involve her.

It's not the time I was by myself watching the big game.

In fact, I I scrolled through my phone yesterday.

I have this one video, I remembered it because I was like, it's one of my favorite memories of my daughter.

And so this is my favorite memory of anything that ever happened in the man cave.

This took place in the man cave uh years ago.

We'll put this up on the screen for you.

This is my my daughter Lily, who now does dance.

That's in my man cave.

Right there, next to my mini fridge.

That's it.

That's the best thing that ever happened in there.

Yeah.

Now she's in a ballet conservatory, and it's expensive and great.

It all started there.

It's wonderful.

But I spent years pursuing what I thought was a worthy endeavor, and by the way, again, if you've got a man cave, it's all good.

Like, that's fine.

I actually have a good buddy that has four daughters, and he needs one.

Like, he needs one.

A little different situation for me.

My point is that sometimes there are things in life that we value very much, and we go hard in pursuit of it, only to find it's not what it's cracked up to be.

Our world is like that.

In fact, I'm really excited we have our high school students with us this morning.

Make some noise, by the way, for our high school students.

They are amazing.

We love it.

Love it when you guys are in the room with us.

I'm so glad you guys are here.

Because there are going to be things that this world will tell you matter deeply.

And you should give your life to it, and you should pursue it with your whole heart.

And if you have it, you'll be happy.

And oftentimes this world lies.

And what we often find is that you can be the person who has it all according to the world and be the furthest from God.

Because you can get to the top with greed and cruelty, with a vengeful heart.

You can get to the top of your field, you can get to the top of a company, you can get to the top of authority in this world by lying and cheating, by stealing, by being corrupt.

And you can become the person that everyone looks to and says that they did it.

But in the eyes of God, that doesn't matter at all.

So here's Jesus, and the disciples are asking, hey, how can we be the greatest?

How can we be the ones that make it?

And Jesus brings a child to him, a little child.

He loved kids, by the way.

Jesus loved children.

In fact, in Matthew chapter 19, it says that one day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay hands on them and pray for them.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

These probably would have been like one-year-olds.

That was their tradition and their culture.

But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.

They're like, he's too busy for children.

Come on, guys.

And Jesus said, Let the children come to me, don't stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are like these children.

And he placed his hands on their heads and he blessed them before he left.

Jesus loves children and he multiple times points to children as this inspirational example that we should look to if we want to be the way he would call us to be.

What does he mean by that?

What does it mean to be like a child?

We could probably talk about this for a long time.

Let's remember first and foremost, this was before iPads were invented.

So when you picture child, like this is not, you know, constant entertainment, whatever.

These are third world children.

Like every, pretty much every part of the world was third world in Jesus' day.

But when you're thinking about the kind of children that he's pointing to, recognize that these were children who were impoverished, they had nothing.

It wasn't like modern America.

These children were not marketed to, they weren't buying toys.

These children would have been the lowest of the low in society.

No authority, no power, no status, no importance.

Jesus pulls them over and he says, Be like these, humble yourselves like these.

Children are humble.

Now there's a couple of different versions of humility that often pop into our minds.

One version of humility is the kind of humility that you have where you're like, you're really good at something and you do a great job and people praise you, and you're like, thank you, but it was all him.

Or it was, you know, I have a lot of people around me.

That kind of humility.

And that's good.

The Bible talks about that.

Matthew chapter, or rather, Romans chapter 12, verse 3 says, Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this morning, this is the Apostle Paul talking.

Romans 12:3

Don't think you're better than you really are.

Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith that God has given us.

Just as our bodies have many parts, and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body.

We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

Paul is saying, look, some of you may have gifts and abilities that in the eyes of others are more celebrated, are viewed as more important.

It's not the case.

So humble yourselves.

Don't think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think.

There's that kind of humility where when people praise you, you kind of take the low road and go, thank you, but I want to recognize all the other people that make that possible.

And that's really good.

But there's another kind of humility.

And this is the humility that Jesus is talking about.

There's another definition for humble, and it just means low, unimportant.

Like we might say in our culture, someone came from humble beginnings.

That means that they didn't grow up in any type of wealth or importance or influence.

It's that kind of humble that Jesus is talking about.

When he says that children were humble, he wasn't saying that, you know, they're awesome, but they have good attitudes.

He was saying, no, these children, they're not important in the world's eyes.

They're low.

Be like that.

It's so interesting because he's talking to the disciples who are arguing about who's the greatest and jockeying for position.

And he knows where it's going to lead them.

In fact, one of the disciples, or two of the disciples' mother, these guys were brothers, James and John, she once came to Jesus and said, Hey, will you please make sure that you know when you set up shop for real, like when your kingdom comes in its fullness, I want my boys to be right next to you.

Can you make that happen?

And Jesus is like, you do not know what you're asking for.

Jesus came to serve, to be a sacrifice.

He didn't come to be exalted.

And actually, I'll just say this probably the people in the last, I've been in full-time ministry for about 20 years now.

The people I've seen struggle the most in kind of the whole church context in the last 20 years are always people who want to be a big deal.

People who have aspirations of greatness within God's kingdom.

They're like, I want to be, I want to be a big deal.

I want the spotlight.

I want the microphone.

And it just always ends up in misery.

I mean, I stand here every Sunday, and I hold this microphone, almost every Sunday, and it's funny, like, I remember the first time that I ever spoke in this room.

I was so nervous.

I was like 24 years old.

I was the youth pastor, they asked me to speak.

I wrote a message, I was really proud of it.

And Steve, who was my boss, hated it.

And he said, start over.

It wasn't very good.

And so I wrote another one, and I don't think he liked it that much, but it was Saturday.

And it was better than the first one, I guess.

And I remember my boss Doug, just to be funny, and maybe kind of he could tell how tense I was right before I went on stage, he said, Hey man, just don't screw up.

But it's like, I don't, I'm just, you'll have to trust me on this.

Like, I don't need to stand here.

Um, it doesn't fill me.

It's it's just, it's my role.

And it'll be someone else's role one day.

But I've seen people who who want maybe not this, but just they want recognition, they want to be a big deal, and it always ends poorly because that's not the way that God's kingdom is.

It's just not.

It's not about celebration and honor and it's not at all.

But we as humans tend to seek that.

Jesus once taught in Luke chapter 14 about this very concept.

Luke 14 · chapter mention

Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner that he was at were trying to sit in the seats of honor at the head of the table.

He gave him this advice.

When you're invited to a wedding feast, don't sit at the seat of honor.

What if someone who's more important than you, more distinguished, has also been invited?

Then the host is going to come to you and say, Hey, you've got to give this person your seat.

You're going to be embarrassed.

Then you'll have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table.

Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table.

And then when your host sees you, he will come and say, Friend, we have a better place for you.

And you'll be honored in front of all the other guests.

For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Jesus says, Listen, take the low road.

Do the whatever, whatever's needed.

I've known so many people, not just through the context of church, but whether it's in their their companies, their community, where their attitude is just whatever I need to do, I'm happy to help.

Whatever's needed.

And it's those people that don't view themselves too important to do anything.

It's those people that Jesus says, yes.

Be like them.

Humble yourself.

Take a low position.

Don't have ambition and seek to be great in other people's eyes.

To be low.

And that's hard to do.

I think we have to stop.

It's hard to do in our world because our world makes it really easy to brag.

Our will makes it really easy to be prideful.

Social media alone makes that so easy.

It's just so easy to post the highlights.

And I do it all the time.

I'm gonna be honest.

It's so easy to do.

I can do it with my kids.

That's mainly the way I do it.

And sometimes it's innocent and I just I'm proud of them, and other times I'm like, this is awesome.

People will think this is awesome.

People will think I'm awesome.

I am awesome.

Right?

I'm not.

It's a constant temptation.

It's a pull.

And Jesus recognizes that.

This world is constantly asking us to lift ourselves up, to promote ourselves.

And it's this interesting dynamic where, you know, in our world today, how do we how do we navigate both?

You know, sometimes maybe it's for business reasons, you need to promote yourself.

How can I promote myself, but also be humble?

And that's something that only the Spirit can walk us through.

Only the Holy Spirit inside of us has the wisdom and the discernment to help us navigate how tricky it is to both be someone who is successful at something and also be humble and have a servant's heart and not be ambitious and not seek praise and honor.

It's tough.

It's tough.

And the world is terrible at it.

So we're gonna get no help from the world.

Here's how to be humble.

I used to joke that you know they should have an award ceremony for humility and give like an award the most humble person.

But then that person obviously wouldn't receive the trophy.

You know, they're just too humble to do it.

Or maybe it's a tiny trophy.

I don't know how it would work.

But they don't have that.

They don't have a humility award.

We're always chasing something.

And oftentimes we're chasing pretty Prestige and honor in some way.

And what would it be like?

What would it be like to be like a child in our hearts?

That we don't desire that.

Oftentimes children do not naturally desire prestige.

That's something that they're taught to desire.

That's something that we often put on them.

But Jesus challenges us that if we want to be like, if we want to be a very important person in the kingdom, be a child.

Humble yourself.

So I just encourage you this week to pray on that.

To think about that.

Lord, are there any times in my life that I am the opposite of that?

I think about my kids and what their life is like and how little control they have in life.

My little kids spend a lot of time in the car, not knowing where we're going, having no control of where we're going, or the route that they're being taken, or how long it's going to take to get there.

I just had to have a conversation with my two boys in the car the other day when they said, Dad, how far are we?

How long is it?

I think, guys, we're going on an errand.

We're not going to Florida.

You don't need to ask me how long it's going to take all the time, you know.

But how often in my life with God have I been like, Lord, how long is it going to take?

Why aren't we there yet?

Why are you going this way?

I think you should go this other way.

I think that would work better.

Lord, are we there yet?

What kid?

I'm a lot like that.

Maybe it would be better if we just truly humbled ourselves when it comes to our relationship with God and simply said, Lord, I trust you.

Take me where you're going.

And I think He gives us the grace to, like children, still ask, Are we there yet from time to time?

But pray on that this week.

How can you take a lower position?

How can you have a servant's heart?

Look for opportunities this week.

Don't be surprised if there comes up an opportunity where you get to do something that no one cares about, that no one will celebrate.

It's just something that needs done.

It's just some lowly thing.

Look for those opportunities and take them.

Because Jesus sees that and he commends it.

Be humble, like a child.

Now, as I said earlier, this teaching has two prongs.

Prong one is be like a kid, be humble, like humble children or those who are important in the eyes of God.

Don't take the high road like or the high place, take the low place.

Let God exalt you.

Don't seek to exalt yourself.

Okay?

There's that.

But then it takes a turn.

We'll go back to Matthew chapter 18, verses 5 and 6.

Matthew 18:5

Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.

But if you cause one of these little ones who trust in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.

It's pretty intense.

I think I'll just say a few things on this.

Number one, Jesus obviously loves children, cares about children very much.

And that's something, by the way, that's very unique in the history of the world to our faith.

I just want to say that.

Children are valued in the eyes of our God in ways that they were never valued in the eyes of other cultures and other faiths.

It's the truth.

For example, Jeremiah.

He was a prophet at a really rough time in Israel's history.

Israel had really abandoned God, and most Israelites were worshiping a false god called Baal.

There were all these false gods of the ancient world in those religions, Baal, Molech.

You can do some history research on those, and they're all disgusting.

And in Jeremiah, God is talking about this practice that was a big part of Baal worship, which was actually sacrificing children, killing children as a part of worship.

And this is what God says to Jeremiah about his people.

He says, they have built pagan shrines to Baal.

And there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal.

I have never commanded such a horrible deed.

It never even crossed my mind to command such a thing.

Something that is actually always telling of evil, of true evil in our world, is that it preys upon children.

Children are often the victims of the most intense evil.

And to be a Jesus follower and to have the values of the kingdom is partly to recognize the preciousness of children and that they should be fought for and protected and loved and honored.

And that's not something that our world necessarily shares.

Like it does in a nominal way.

Like there's lots of lots of platitudes about how great children are.

But when push comes to shove, very often in our culture, children are fine to be guinea pigs, and it's fine to have children pay the price and to sacrifice for other people's dreams.

Happens all the time.

And sometimes, just gonna say this, sometimes, as we have these conversations, things will pop into my mind, and as I'm praying through what to say, and they might involve controversial subjects, and I do have like a uh sort of a policy, I guess, if you don't mind.

Um if we're ever talking about something controversial and you agree with what I say, just never clap, because other people won't, and that's okay.

But I just don't want I want anyone who's mad to be mad at me, not mad at you.

Does that make sense?

And if someone's processing through some of these issues as we talk about things, and it stirs up anger or questions or whatever, that's a that's a fine thing to happen here.

Um but if we all clap and say amen for things that we agree with, then it makes sometimes it makes people feel like they're on the outside looking in, and that's not what the purpose of this is.

And so as I was thinking about this, just thinking about what God says in scripture about children and the value of children in this world, and I'm thinking about how God's work today out, by the way.

I just want to say this.

Like, today's crazy because we already had serving God's children planned like a year ago, this mission trip and coming back, and we knew today was gonna be a day that we would celebrate that.

Um, and then it just so happens that our teaching is on children, and I didn't work that out.

I'm not nearly that organized ever.

And so uh I'm often like, what are we talking about two weeks from now?

Oh, yeah, I forgot.

So that happened.

Then our kids team actually reached out to me and they said, Hey, our kids areas have grown so much this year, we need more kids volunteers.

Do you mind asking?

And I never mind asking, but I was like, man, it's kind of perfect to talk about that today.

So at the end, I'm gonna talk about that.

Just don't leave.

Um, you know, it's just all this stuff with kids.

And then I looked at the baptism list today, and I was like, God, you're you're hilarious.

Like, it's just God, children, and the value of children, and the role of children in his kingdom, and how we should learn from children and aspire to be like them in the right ways, and we should protect them at all costs.

That is like a theme that God wanted hammered home today, and he made sure of it in all these really cool ways.

You'll see that later.

You know, our society does not value children the way that God does.

If it did, abortion would not be a thing.

I'll just start with that.

It wouldn't be a thing.

It would never be something that would be celebrated and at all.

And I know, by the way, many people who have been a part of abortions, either women who have had them or men who have been in a relationship or that was encouraged, and I know people very close to me that have, there is grace for that, there is forgiveness for that.

We actually have ministry connections through the Hope Center for counseling that can help people overcome that, because oftentimes there's a real struggle in the heart when that happens, and so I'm not putting shame on anybody.

But I'm saying observationally, there's no way that a society could love children the way that Jesus does, and then also say, we gotta we gotta make sure that this is a thing.

Just couldn't be.

And I know sometimes there's different opinions on that, and this is not political.

I'm not talking about politics, this isn't a political issue, this is a moral issue.

As a Jesus follower, there's no way to reconcile something like abortion with your faith.

It's very rare for me, by the way, to tell you directly like there's no room for that.

Because oftentimes we're gonna be like, well, hey, there's this is open for interpretation, this is not.

And anyone who would say this as a pastor is in dangerous territory if they say that no, there's there's room for this.

No, our faith is built on the promise of an unborn child in the womb.

The savior that we worship, the savior that we sing about every Sunday was once an unborn child in the womb of an unwed teenage pregnant mother.

And children who are unborn in Scripture have destinies.

And God says in the womb that they are meant to be this and they will become this.

There's no room for that.

But our society has this warped view of kids that kids are oftentimes a necessary sacrifice.

It's just like the ancient religions of old.

You know why?

Because it's born of the same spirit.

It's evil.

I'm not just trying to be like a culture commentator.

We're gonna move on from this in a second, I promise.

But I remember a few years ago, I was watching uh an interesting speech that uh was sent to me by someone on this very issue.

This is something I've always been really passionate about.

I love our partnership with the Hope Center, by the way.

I think this is a really important issue for Jesus followers to be really well educated on, because it's a big part of our world and it's not part of our faith.

The two cannot go together.

And so this uh famous actress had won an award, and in this award speech, you know, the acceptance speech, the actress used that platform as an opportunity to advocate for what our culture often calls a woman's right to choose.

And what happened was she literally said, like, I would never have been able to do this, this would never have been possible if I had not exercised that right.

And it was so amazing.

Because you know the room clapped and cheered, and that's fine.

But it was so amazing because I'm sitting there like you're holding a tiny golden statue.

Like there's a lot of biblical references for that.

It's called idols, right?

And you're saying all I had to do in order to get this was sacrifice a child.

And someone might say, well, that's a little harsh, but I don't think it is.

I think sometimes things that are accurate just need to be said accurately, but that's what that's what was said.

It's like, how could what could be further from the heart of God than that?

And so here's why I'm saying this is this is not the whole point of the message.

It's just a little stop.

Maybe it's a stop you wish I hadn't taken.

Apologies if so.

But we have to champion children.

We have to love children, we have to sacrifice for children.

We don't sacrifice children, we sacrifice for them.

That's why things like serving God's children exist.

Where people say, What else can I do?

How can I help?

Like, there's there's hundreds of children that are are hungry and they don't have access to medicine and education.

Like, what we gotta stop this, we gotta solve this.

That's the heart of God.

Because those children are not just little cute junior Christians, right?

When we have kids get baptized here at his hands, when people get saved that are teenagers here at his hands, they don't get like a kid version of the Holy Spirit.

They're not junior Christians, they're every bit, every bit as part of the body as we are.

Every bit as important.

In fact, Jesus would often point to them and say, be like them.

Jesus champions children, he loves children, he protects children.

And frankly, they're the ones that should be sacrificed for in any situation.

And not the other way around.

But Jesus goes on and he says, you know, if any of you causes these people to sin, if you ever cause a child to sin, watch out.

No, that gets really intense.

And I think what we can just say here as we as we wrap up, man, I did not plan this message well, ended on a high note.

But this is the way the teaching of Jesus went.

He didn't reverse it.

I wish he would have been like, don't mess with these kids, protect them, and also be like them, because then the message could have been reversed, and it could have been the hard stuff first, and then we'd end on a high note, and you'd be like, Yay! Um, it's just not a yay day, I guess.

But no, like this is what I'll say.

Jesus talks about how if anyone causes a child to sin, I just want to say this.

I I feel so much for young people today because there's just so much thrown at them that wasn't thrown at most of us growing up.

If you ever have a moment where you look at like a young person, a teenager or whatever, and you're like, what is wrong with them?

You know, I'm sure none of us have done that.

Right?

Um, just recognize that even if there is something wrong, they've had to deal with so much more.

So much more exposure through technology, so many influences that none of us had to deal with.

It was like, or at least very few of us, it's it's tough.

It's tough being a young person today.

Because there are a lot of people in the world working really hard to influence children in the exact opposite way that God would have them to go.

In the exact opposite way.

And some of those people are really good at it, and they're clever, and they're creative, and they have all kinds of technology and funding behind them, and our kids live in this world where they are lied to all the time, where temptations are thrown at them like crazy.

They're tempted like crazy.

So what can we do?

Well, A, obviously, we can't be the tempter.

Jesus makes that clear, but we actually have to go beyond that, and we have to have the ability to say, hey, I'm gonna stand up for you, and I'm gonna be someone who protects you from that.

I'm gonna be someone who can be honest with you, who gives you good advice.

I'm gonna be someone who can provide an environment that allows you to thrive and understand what the truth is, the truth of God, not the lies of this world, in terms of what's right and what's good and what's valuable and what's worthy of your focus.

And I just want to say this, I'm not just trying to say it to say it.

I I cannot commend Madison, our youth pastor, Thomas Verden, who works with our junior high students and also mentors, our juniors and seniors.

I can't commend uh Courtney Wasco, who works with our oldest elementary school kids, or Taryn Green, who works with our four and five-year-olds, or Josie uh Olmsted, who works with our youngest children, or Megan, my wife, who's in charge of all of the kids' programs.

I mean, here at his hands, we have an entire team, our biggest team, actually, on staff, is devoted to creating an environment where children can thrive and be taught the truth and grow in their faith and have values that line up with the Lord, not just with the values of this world, and they do an unbelievable job.

They do an incredible job.

And every Sunday we benefit from it.

I mean, it's not lost on me that today, as we're talking about this, I'm sitting here in the back during worship, and half of the worship team this morning used to be students here.

Warren, who was our drummer, and Hannah, who sang at the end, and Matt, who sang the two songs before.

They were all students here.

Grew up in this church.

It's been amazing to watch that.

And so I just see the way that God's kind of worked everything out together.

It's kind of a serious topic.

It's a serious topic.

Children need to be valued, protected, honored.

We should look to them and be humble like them, humble ourselves like them, and then do everything we can to make sure that we're helping them live the lives that God has for them.

And so, with that said, I'm gonna pray.

We're gonna transition to baptisms in just a second.

Guys, we have seven people getting baptized today.

I'm just gonna say that.

Okay?

Seven.

And I'm gonna wrap it up now so that we get done in time.

Don't leave.

Don't leave.

I mean, if you leave, I'm not gonna judge you.

I mean, maybe a little bit, but I'll be like, it's gotta be important.

But but stay for this because there's a few of these that are just so special.

All of them are really special.

Um, one of them just kind of hit me in a really special way.

But I just want you to know that if if you if any of this resonates with you, some of you, maybe some of the things I said, you're like, I don't agree with that at all, and that's totally fine.

Um, I understand that.

But if anything I'm saying about children and their value resonates with you, and you're saying, yes, this world, it is working really hard against children.

It's trying to tempt them, it's trying to lie to them, it's trying to all of this, and Jesus loves them and he cherishes them and he protects them and honors them, and he's calling us to do the same.

If any of that resonates with you, I just want you to know that our kids' areas have grown so much in the last few years that on a typical Sunday we have sometimes around 500 people here every Sunday under the age of 18.

Every single week.

And uh, which is great, which is great.

And if you if you clap, you're signing up for a kids team.

Okay.

But it's just look, it's just kind of the way church tends to go.

Kids areas often have the biggest needs because there can be one of me and a thousand of you, and y'all are just fine.

But that ratio does not work, okay?

With four-year-olds.

And there aren't a thousand of them.

But sometimes it feels like it.

Um, but our kids, our kids' areas just came to me this week and said, hey, we we could use some help.

We need some volunteers.

And so I'm gonna put something up on the screen real quick.

You guys put it up, and you can respond to this if you want to.

Um if you want to be part of our kids' team, it's really interesting.

Just text his kids, his kids to 9400.

We're gonna leave this up for a while.

Um, because man, they need help.

They're awesome.

You're gonna learn from them.

When I hang out with like the high school students, I'm blown away by how much I have to learn from them.

Just like Jesus pointed to children and said, hey, learn from them.

I didn't mean to call you guys children.

I'm so sorry.

Um, but I'm old enough now that you could be like 20 and you seem like a kid to me.

But I learn from them.

I'm inspired by them.

All four of my kids will do things that make me go, man, I am I have a lot to learn.

And I'm I'm learning lessons in life from my own children.

It's crazy.

But we could use your help because we've got a lot of kids here.

And what they're facing on a day-to-day basis in school and in the world, they're being lied to so much, so many different directions.

They need people who can stand in the gap for them and help.

And we could use your help.

All right?

That's all I'm gonna say there.

But I'm gonna pray, try to land this plane, and uh transition to baptisms, if you wouldn't mind praying with me.

Father, we're your children.

That's what we are, we're children.

Each of us, in your eyes, we have to seem so small.

Even if we're in our our 80s and we've been following you for 70 years, in the grand scheme of eternity, we might as well be a three-year-old.

All of us have to seem so small to you.

We're all young.

And yet, Lord, you love us, you honor us, you lift us up, you protect us, you cherish us.

Jesus, you you pointed to children.

You told us to be like them.

Help us take that seriously this week.

Help us look for opportunities to take the low place, to do what is uncelebrated.

Lord, help us get over that natural desire we have to be put on a pedestal, to seek honor and glory for ourselves.

And help us, Lord, just be humble.

Help us be humble like children.

Help us be content in the low places.

And Lord, when it comes to our kids, we recognize that you had a very stern warning for anyone who messes with kids.

And Lord, our culture is so backwards, and in some ways, children are valued, and in many ways, Lord, they are they're just not like they should be, not like you value them.

Help us as a church stand for truth.

Help us as people be bold enough and courageous enough to just stand for truth, whether it's popular or not.

Help us be passionate protectors of children, because they're precious in your eyes.

You make that clear.

And Lord, as these people go all in with you and get baptized, help us be excited for them, Lord.

Fill our hearts with joy and celebration as we celebrate this moment in their lives.

Thank you, Father, for all that you're doing in this church and in all the churches in our community, not just for young people, but for all people.

But today, especially, Lord, thank you for what you're doing in the lives of this next generation through your church.

We pray this in your name of Jesus.

Amen.