June 9, 2024
Morning Service

Mat 18:1-6At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"  (2)  Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, (3) and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.  (4)  Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  (5)  Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.  (6)  "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

            There is something about a child’s faith that causes Jesus to make this statement.  When a child is told something from someone they trust, they fully believe it to be true and act accordingly.  They come with a clean slate and are primed and ready to accept whatever is given to them.  We adults make things much more difficult on ourselves by complicating simple spiritual truths of God.   We tend to analyze them through the eyes of the world view which we have built by the experiences we have had on life’s journey.  We may have been lied to so many times that we are not sure anything is true.  Or we question everything and analyze it from every angle refusing to accept it at face value (this is not a bad thing if we are using the Holy Spirit as our guide and praying for the gift of discernment).  But, we as Jesus Followers, must come to the place where we read it in the Bible we can say; “God said it, I believe it, and that settles it.”  We must humble ourselves as a child placing ourselves fully under the authority of the scriptures; yielding our will to His.  We must believe with a childlike faith.

            In this scripture as well we see the full weight of our children’s ministry.  To receive, love and invest in our children we are doing it to Jesus.  But if we are slack and don’t teach the truth of God’s Word to these children, it would be better for us to drown with a “millstone tied to our neck.”  Do you get the point?  Our investment in these children God has brought to our Felllowship is one of the most important ministries we are called to.  We are not called to entertain and just keep them busy, but invest in them by teaching them the Truth of who God is and who they are in Him.  I praise God for everyone who embraces this challenge in our Fellowship.  Jessi and Seth have hosted this the last two years, but there is a huge team behind them supporting their front line efforts.  I encourage you if God has gifted you to teach, please step in and help or search out a way that you can contribute to the children’s ministry no matter how big or small, God will bless you (and them) for it.  The children’s ministry can always use more help.

            The theme this year for VBS is a little retro going back to a call several years ago to think through our actions with the question. “What would Jesus do?”  The first key factor is why would we want to do what Jesus did?  We must answer the question of who we feel Jesus is as Jesus asked the disciples.

 

 Mat 16:13-18 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"  (14)  So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  (15)  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  (16)  Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  (17)  Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  (18)  And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

            The first point to be established is the foundation of our faith that “Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God.”  Jesus tells Peter that upon that statement “I will build My church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”  Everything we do as a Jesus Follower and as a church, including children’s ministry, MUST be based on that foundation as well.  And if we do, we will prevail over evil and ultimately win in the end! 

            Once we establish who Jesus is, we can believe that He is worthy to be imitated.  Paul stated this challenge to the Corinthian church:

 

1Co 11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

          There are two challenges here.  First, we must define what Jesus was like by studying our Bible.  To imitate someone, we have to study them to try and really know them.   He is compassionate, forgiving, wise, caring, loving, approachable, and always putting God’s will ahead of His own.  He was perfect without sin.  Every event we read from His life points to these facts being true.  Secondly, our goal is to put our knowledge into action in our lives.  We are to use Jesus as our example of how we want to be and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, begin to make changes in our lives to be more like Him.   We can use the phrase WWJD as we make choices along the way basing them upon what we have learned from the scriptures.  To imitate Christ perfectly is impossible, but we must do our best to reach perfection, allowing the Holy Spirit within us to guide us to truth and empower us to live it out.  When we fall short and sin, we confess that sin, repent, and learn from our mistakes as Christ forgives us. (I Jn. 1:9)

  We seek to imitate Him again because of who we know He is.  We follow Him because we choose to out of our love for Him not out of obligation or duty.  We want to, not have to follow Jesus.  Notice how Jesus told us we can best show our love for Him.

 

Joh 14:15"If you love Me, keep My commandments.

             Each of us are to imitate Christ with every choice we make in life no matter how small or large.  Our motivation to follow Him is our love for Him knowing how much He loves us.  In being obedient to His commands, we turn our words into action displaying our love to Jesus in our life.  Our love for Him creates a desire to walk worthy of our calling.  Paul sums that up in his letter to the Ephesians.

 

Eph. 4:1-3 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, (2) with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, (3) endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

            This brings us full circle from where we started this morning.  We are to “walk worthy of the calling with which we are called” imitating Christ and loving Him through our obedience.  We do this as individuals, but we also must do this “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  In other words, we do it together.  We are better together!  The impact of each of our actions individually is multiplied as we work together in serving and obeying Christ; walking worthy of our calling side by side. When we do this in the unity of the faith, we have a greater impact as many rather than as one.

            Learn more about Jesus and His commands for us and let His will be done in your life.  Become so much like Him that you don’t even have to ask the question, you just do what Jesus would do.  It will become who you are, not what you do.

 

Heavenly Father, You know our hearts today.  We do seek to know You more and to imitate Jesus in our lives to shine Your Light into this dark world.  Help us to strive to walk worthy of the calling You have placed upon our lives.