Sermon on Mark 10:13-16

Here is a sermon that I didn't get to deliver as we were unable to make it home to Wray from Denver. I hope you enjoy!

Today we are beginning a new series called People Bringing People leading up to Easter. We will be looking at stories in the gospels of people who bring people to Jesus. What can we learn about bringing people to Jesus from these stories? How can these stories help and motivate us to bring people to Jesus today?

I have mentioned many times before that only 15% of Americans 30 and under attend church and only 5% of Americans 18 and under attend church. That means that the vast majority of children in our country are growing up apart from the influence of the church. Fewer and fewer children are growing up with knowledge of Jesus Christ; with a relationship with Jesus Christ.

And those that are growing up in the church usually don’t stay throughout their lifetime. In fact only 1 in 8 children who are raised in the church will still be in the church when they are 22 years old. These are discouraging stats. But it makes it even more important for us to bring the children of our day to Jesus.
Here in Mark 10:13-16 we see people bringing children to Jesus. They bring their children to Jesus to have him touch them. Now why do they want Jesus to touch them? There is no mention of these children being sick or demon possessed. Why do they want Jesus to touch these children? These people want these children to be touched by Jesus to bless them. They are seeking a visible means of conveying God’s blessing on their lives. It was common for parents to seek the blessing of a Rabbi for their children and it makes sense that many would seek the blessing of Jesus for their children.

It seems to be an innocent enough request. We’ve all seen paintings with Jesus and children. Jesus welcoming little children, laughing, hugging. But the children first need to get past the disciples. Past the bouncers. We see here the disciples rebuking those who are bringing children to Jesus. This seems so strange to us. What is going on?

It’s like the disciples are saying, “Don’t you know who this is? Don’t you know how important his time is? He doesn’t have time for little children! He doesn’t have time for the unimportant, the insignificant, the powerless. Children can’t help fulfill the mission. Children can’t bring about the kingdom of God. They have no political clout, no useful contacts.”

But Jesus sees this completely differently. Jesus is indignant! He is ticked off! He is angry. He is outraged! He is furious! This is the only time in scripture that Jesus is said to be indignant. He is indignant because this is wrong! The disciples are once again demonstrating that they don’t get it! Once again we see that they misunderstand the Kingdom of God, they misunderstand Jesus’ work.

So Jesus rebukes the disciples for their rebuking the people bringing the children. And he has two commands…let the children come to me and don’t hinder them. Start allowing them to come to me and stop preventing them from coming to me.

Then he tells his disciples something amazing. He says they must become like little children to receive the kingdom. Those they were preventing they must now be like. The scene ends with Jesus not just briefly touching the children but hugging them, taking them into his arms, laying his hands on them, and blessing them. We see that Jesus has time for children. Jesus values little children. Jesus values the unimportant, the insignificant, the powerless.

This story leads me to ask several questions. First; are we bringing people to Jesus for him to touch? Like those that brought the little children are we bringing people to Jesus? I assume Jesus has blessed you in some way. I assume you have experienced his touch on your life. That he has begun the process of transformation in your life. That he has saved you from a life of sin and hopelessness. That he has given you peace with God through faith in him. I assume that you have experienced the grace of God through Jesus Christ. That’s why you’re here and keep coming back each week.
Are you seeking to share that blessing with others? Are you inviting others to church? I hope you believe that this church is a place that you can invite others to. We are seeking to make this a safe place for people to come and learn about Jesus. A safe place to experience the touch of Jesus through his followers. To experience love from us, his hands and feet.

When was the last time you invited someone to church? I have read several books and studies on church growth and nearly every one says that churches grow through the members inviting others. In fact, many of those studies say that as much as 80% of new attendees are people invited by current members. 80%! Do you want this church to grow? More importantly, do you want God’s kingdom to grow? Do you want others in our town to experience the peace and joy and new life in Jesus Christ through faith in him? Then invite them to church!

In a few weeks we will be celebrating Easter. Easter is the perfect Sunday to invite someone to church. I am planning to do a very unorthodox message, one that I hope God will use to excite others about our church. Let me encourage you to invite your friends to our church on Easter Sunday. You may be surprised at how open they are to attending with you because you invited them.

In order to invite someone to church, you need to be investing in the lives of people who do not attend church. Do you have people in your life that you are investing in in hopes of introducing them to Jesus Christ? If not let me encourage you to begin investing in the lives of others. We need to be sharing what God has done for us with others. We need to be sharing our faith with others.

Think about how you came to be part of the church. My guess is that someone invited you. I hope that we will become a church that creates opportunities to invite others to our church.

A second question that emerges from this text for us to consider is this; are we hindering people from experiencing Jesus’ touch in any way? Do we have attitudes or actions that prevent people from coming to Jesus? Sometimes we do this and don’t even know it. Many times in churches, there is an unwritten code of conduct, of dress, of respectability, of status in the community, of influence. We are rarely aware of these unwritten codes. But we all live by them and we expect visitors to live by them as well. Without even knowing it, we may make others feel unwelcome or unwanted. Are we a welcoming church? Do we make others feel welcome? Do people feel free to be themselves here? Do they feel safe here?

Along with these unwritten codes that make others feel unwelcome, Christians can also hinder others in their behavior throughout the week Have you ever had someone say to you that they will never go to church because of all the hypocrites? Sadly, we all know that this charge against some in the church is true. And it should cause us all to take a long hard look at ourselves. Are we practicing what we preach? Are we living consistent, authentic lives all week long? Are we truly developing a relationship with Jesus Christ or are we being religious? Does the way you conduct your business draw people to Jesus? Or does it turn people off to Jesus? Does your home life draw people to Jesus? Does the way you manage anger demonstrate to others that you know Jesus?

The world is watching us. And they can’t wait to point the finger at our failures, at our hypocrisy. But if we are consistent, if we practice what we preach, if we are growing in our walk with Jesus Christ, they will see that too. How we live our lives is vitally important to the witness of Jesus Christ in the world.

Along with our unwritten codes and our hypocrisy, we can often blatantly hinder othes from coming to church. Sometimes as Christians and sadly in the name of Jesus, we are rude and judgmental. Many times we believe that Jesus has made us the moral police in the world and our job is to point out the sins of others. But if we are going to point the sins of others out, Jesus teaches we need to start with ourselves.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that instead of pointing out the splinter in someone else’s eye we should concern ourself with removing the log from our own eye. But sadly we rarely practice this. We like to see ourselves as having it together and others are the ones who struggle. We see others as not being good enough, righteous enough, repentant enough, rich enough, powerful enough, or straight enough to come to Jesus. But Jesus commands us to start allowing and stop preventing. We need to seriously consider this question: are we hindering others from coming to Jesus like his first disciples?

A third category of question for us to consider is this: are we becoming like little children? Have you ever noticed that you always know what little children are excited about? You know what has captured their heart. They blurt it out. They talk about it incessantly. They think about it all the time.

Are we childlike in our excitement about Jesus? Has he captured our hearts? Are we childlike in our enthusiastic devotion to him? Or have we grown up? Have we stripped our relationship with Jesus of its passion and replaced it with religion that’s prim and proper. Have we lost our passion and enthusiasm for Jesus? Have we become dignified and dead?

Look at the picture of Jesus in this passage. He is childlike in this scene. All the cares of the world are gone. He is one his way to the cross, making his final trip to Jerusalem and he knows that execution awaits. Yet he stops and hugs children. He holds them. He laughs with them. He blesses them.

Do we have time for the least important in our world? Will we bring them to Jesus?
This leads to my final question. As a church are we welcoming children? What kind of facilities are we devoting to children’s ministry? How much of our budget is dedicated to children? Do we recruit and train quality teachers to work with kids? Are we creating a safe environment, a loving environment for children? Are we reaching out to unchurched kids?

Are we people bringing people to Jesus? Let me challenge you this week. Do you know an unchurched child in your neighborhood who you could invite to church? Let me encourage you to invite that child to church. Bring that child here for Jesus to touch.

Rated R Christmas: The Christmas Dragon

Sunday we will continue our "Rated R Christmas" series taking a look at Revelation 12. This should be an advent sermon you won't soon forget!

I'd encourage you to read the passage and share your questions and thoughts in the comments. Here's the passage:

A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short."

When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Deuteronomy 8:10-19

Today I'm "thinking myself empty" concerning Deuteronomy 8:10-19. One of the first questions that occurred to me is, is this passage applicable to us today? And if so, in what way?

That may seem like a strange question concerning a passage from the Bible but it is actually very important when seeking to understand and apply the Old Testament. This passage records Moses charging the Israelites to follow the LORD after they enter the promised land and settle down. So the dilemma concerning how to apply this text arises from several simple facts:

1. None of us are Israelites.
2. None of us live in the Promised Land.
3. The covenant referred to in this passage is not the covenant that God made with our ancestors.

So how are we to apply and understand this and other passages like it? Hopefully, I'll come up with some good answers by Sunday!

Passage for Sunday November 26

Yesterday we looked at Psalm 107 and the theme of Thanksgiving. I hope and pray each of you have a blessed Thanksgiving!

This coming Sunday, we will again consider the theme of Thanksgiving but from a very different angle. Here's the passage:

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.
Deuteronomy 8:10-19 (Today's New International Version)

I encourage you to read this passage daily and include Deuteronomy 7 as well.

Grace and peace,
Steve

The Lost Older Brother

Recently, Alistair Begg on his Truth for Life broadcast spoke about several steps he uses for preparing a sermon. One of the steps is "think yourself empty." Think about the passage to the point that you don't have anymore you can possibly think about.

So here's what I'm thinking about in regards to the lost older brother in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32:

• Why did he stay?
• What's the benefit of staying?
• Does he feel responsible?
• Is he afraid of what others might think?
• Is he afraid of taking risk?
• He just does the right thing?
• He loves the father?
• How many would a fattened calf feed?
• Is the whole town celebrating?
• Are relatives gathered?
• Where's mom?
• How am I like the older brother?
• Why is he so angry?
• Does he join in the celebration?

Well, that's just a few of my questions on this passage as I try to think myself empty.

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen

This is a wonderful book. Nouwen passed away a few years ago. He was a Catholic priest who taught at Notre Dame, Harvard, and Yale. This book is a collection of thoughts on the parable of the prodigal son as it was painted by Rembrandt. If you get a chance read this great book. You can get it at Amazon by clicking on this link.

During our 3 part sermon series on The Prodigal Son we will be contemplating the painting by Rembrandt as well that inspired Nouwen in his book.

Welcome to The Sermon Files

For a long time, I have wanted to develop a way to engage my listeners in the sermon preparation and evaluation process. Enter "The Sermon Files". Here, I will post thoughts on past and upcoming sermons and passages that we are looking at in our Sunday morning worship service. Feel free to comment, ask questions, give feedback...whatever. This blog is here to serve you and help you grow in your relationship with God and his word.

Grace and peace,

Steve