Most of the time if we know we have a member of the church with a birthday, we like to acknowledge that unless it is going to embarrass somebody too bad and I would like to point out a couple of them right now. Tomorrow is Anthony’s birthday. #19. Most of you know Trey Pittman. Tuesday was his 14th birthday. And his dad, Troy , is having his birthday on the 14th of this month. I don’t know how old he is but it’s considerably more than 14. I’m not going to say that Troy is old but I know that he took Trey to the movies for his birthday and Troy hadn’t been in so long that he was startled when the characters on the screen actually talked.
Last Thursday was also my great-niece’s birthday. I call her Toodles but her name is Kennedy and she turned 5 Thursday. She was treated to a special day with my niece Blair. Blair is grown and took Kennedy all over the place having a special day just with her. I texted Blair and told her to call me so I could wish Kennedy a happy birthday. So Kennedy calls me and I said, “Hey Kennedy, I just wanted to wish you a happy…” I got about that far and Kennedy said,” It’s Toodles! Untle Todd, it’s Toodles!”
But Blair and Toodles had a great day. Both of them are princesses and so they started at Starbucks and then went to the nail salon for manis and pedis. Then Blair asked her what she wanted to eat and Toodles said, “Lobster.” So they went to Red Lobster. Then Blair had arranged for a girlfriend of hers to do a photo-shoot with Kennedy. Oh my. That was the hit of the day. She loved it and Blair said she acted like she had been a model for 20 years; posing and changing her expressions and changing outfits like a pro.
I appreciate Blair spending her day with Kennedy and I called her later to get the story. Blair said Kennedy was so excited! Everywhere they went Kennedy wanted everybody to know it was her birthday. Blair said that Kennedy never asked how much something cost. She knew that Blair would get her whatever she wanted and so she asked and then asked for more. At Starbucks, she didn’t just want a drink. She wanted the cupcake too. She didn’t know the lady taking pictures but when they told her what they were going to do, Kennedy immediately said she wanted to dress like a princess for the pictures. No questions asked.
She wasn’t afraid to ask or afraid to receive. Kennedy trusted Blair and relied on her to get everything done and Blair was more than happy to do it. And so it was a great day for both girls. I just can’t wait to see all the pictures. I may be a little biased but Toodles is quite photogenic.
My question for you today is, when was the last time you were like Toodles? Do you know that God wants us to act like that? Seriously. In the book of Mark, Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me.” And while He said that literally at this point, that is how he wants us to come to Him even today. Let’s look at Mark, chapter 10, verse 13-16.
While you are turning there, I want to tell you why I chose this passage today. We just got through with the biggest day of the year in Christian life. Easter was last Sunday and it was an incredible day for us as a church and it was an incredible day that we celebrate; the day Jesus arose from the grave, never more to die. But you need to realize that was not the end of the ministry of Jesus on this earth. It was the culmination of everything He was sent to do but it was not the end.
Last week we saw that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene but then He also appeared to all of His disciples and continued being with them off and on for 40 days. In fact, I want to read a passage in Acts that tells us about this. In Acts chapter 1 there is a couple of verses that can easily be overlooked if you’re not careful but I find them fascinating. Acts 1:3 says, “After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”
He spoke about the kingdom of God . The kingdom of God . I read that and realized that it must be pretty important if Jesus was going to spend the last few days of His earthly ministry talking about that one thing. So if He spent His last 40 days talking about the kingdom of God , I thought it would be appropriate for us to spend a little time talking about it as well.
The good thing is that we as a church have already been talking about it quite a bit in Sunday School as we have studied the parables of Jesus. So often in those parables, He starts by saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”or “the kingdom of God is like…” and so we have learned a lot about it that way. And if you are not in SS you are missing out but let’s see right now what Jesus says about it in Mark 10:13-16.
13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 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. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
This is a well-known and well-loved passage that tells us not only about the kingdom of Heaven but something of Jesus Himself. Jesus was headed to Jerusalem . The very next chapter in Mark tells of the triumphal entry that we looked at 2 weeks ago. (We are going sort of chronologically backward right now.) So Jesus is that close to being crucified. He knows what is about to happen. I can’t imagine what all must be on His mind and yet He makes time for little kids.
These might have been kids from infants to 6-8 year olds even and one of the things about Jesus that I love is how He never asked, “What’s in it for me?” These people and these kids especially couldn’t do anything for Jesus. They’re not going to give Him money or fame or anything else. And with all that has to be on His mind, He still takes time to be with them and bless them.
The disciples had heard Jesus talk about what was going to happen when they got to Jerusalem and they just wanted to protect His time and privacy. I don’t think they were ogres who didn’t like children. They were just trying to help out. But Jesus knows how important it is to take time for children and so He does. And as He does, He makes it into a teachable moment for His disciples and anybody else within earshot.
And I want to focus on that one phrase where Jesus says, “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” We first need to define “ kingdom of God ” and then we will see how to get there. I did some research on what “ kingdom of God ” means and was overwhelmed by the wordiness of the commentators. Whole books have been written on what is included in this definition so you can be sure that my definitions will not do it justice. But for the sake of brevity just know that the “kingdom of God ”or the “ kingdom of Heaven ”(and they can be used interchangeably) is an all-encompassing term that includes everything from our salvation experience to the place of Heaven itself.
It is what is meant when we say, “salvation” or our relationship with Jesus or we talk about our unearned ability to go to Heaven and includes the “city limits”,if you will, of the New Jerusalem with its streets of gold. And Jesus says that unless we receive it like a little child, we will never enter it. I don’t know about you but I think most people need to grow up but Jesus says we are to be like kids.
I remember one time in kindergarten (and, yes, Mom, this is a true story) I watched as a bunch of the little boys were playing chase with the little girls. They looked like they were having a good time so I thought I would join in. I didn’t know who to ask about the rules. It all looked pretty chaotic to me but I quickly developed a plan. I ran and caught the first girl way too easy and then took her by the arm to the nearest big tree. I put her up against the tree and told her to stay right there. My plan was to round up all the girls and then I figured I would be the winner. And if she was any indication, I figured I could do this pretty quick. So I left her there and went to grab another girl but when I let go of the first girl she just ran off giggling. I quickly realized that there were no rules and that this game was just a bunch of running around giggling and who needs that? I just quit right then. Of course hardly anybody even noticed I was playing much less quitting.
But Jesus says that we are to accept the gift of the kingdom like little kids. Does that mean we are to run around giggling like brain-dead rug rats? Of course not. But how does a child accept a gift? There are at least 3 ways that kids accept gifts but I want to look at just 3.
They accept gifts in faith. They accept gifts with excitement. And then they want more! Right?
First, they accept gifts in faith. When Blair took Toodles out to eat, what do you think would have happened if Blair had said to the waiter, “Uh, 2 checks please. I’m only paying for my lobster. Not hers.”? Or what if Blair had finished her Starbucks first and told Kennedy, “I’ll see ya at the nail salon. Hope you get a ride.”? Or when they got to the photo-shoot, what would Kennedy do if the photographer said, “I hope you brought your own camera.”?
That’s ridiculous! And do you think Kennedy ever thought about those possibilities? Of course not. But do you know what is even more ridiculous than expecting a child to pay their own way or drive their own car? Thinking that there is some way you can pay your own way to Heaven or drive yourself to see Jesus. We want to make it harder than it is because it just makes sense to us that we have to do something to earn our way to Heaven.
It is as soon as we start to grow out of our childish bodies that we are indoctrinated to the fact that we have to work for what we want and nobody is going to give us anything for free. There are no free lunches at least not here on earth. But that’s the thing! We are not talking about the natural way of doing things. Salvation is not natural. It is supernatural. And God says in His Word in Ephesians 2:8-9, “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”
God wants to give you a gift. It is the gift of eternal life, the gift of salvation, the gift of the Holy Spirit in your life today, the gift of His kingdom forever and all you have to do is take it by faith, trusting that God loves you and wants you to have good things but ultimately loves you so much that He wants you to have things that are eternal not necessarily the things of this world. So, believe Him and trust Him and accept that gift like a child would, in faith.
The next characteristic of a child receiving a gift that we should emulate is that they receive gifts with excitement. David says in Psalm 40 and so many other places that we are to rejoice and be glad in God. He says that we are to shout to the Lord in our joy. Now, look. I know what you’re thinking. #1, as a good Baptist there ain’t no way you’re gonna shout. And #2, you have a lot going on in your life and not all of it is good. I completely understand that. I really do.
You will be glad to know that I am not going to ask you to shout this morning. I’m not going to try to force you to gin up some fake enthusiasm. And while I don’t normally ask for a response in the middle of a sermon, I want 3 people to tell me what there is about your relationship with Jesus that excites you. It may be just a word or a sentence. What is exciting about your journey to the kingdom of God ?
Have you ever seen a kid get excited over a Christmas present? To that kid, there is nothing else going on in the world. WWIII might be on the doorstep but it doesn’t matter if he just got a Thomas the Train. His leg could be dangling from his body but if he just got Star Wars Legos, who cares? He knows his parents are going to take care of him and so he is excited about the things he should get excited about. That’s how we are to be when it comes to the kingdom of God . I know you have problems. Being a Christian is absolutely not a guarantee you won’t have problems. You may have more. But we know our Father is going to take care of us and give us what we need and so we get excited about Heaven and peace and even God’s sovereignty.
Lastly, when a child receives a gift, what always happens? He has opened 47 wallet-busting, ear-splitting, clam shell packaged toys wrapped in 4 tons of gift paper and what does he ask? “Is that all?” Is that all??? We’re going to have to add on a room to hold it all. Toys R Us just called our house and placed an order. Is that all? The kid’s excitement has been on overload for so long that he wants more.
He doesn’t have to worry about how to pay for it or where it came from because he accepts those gifts in faith. And he is so excited to get it and now he wants more. And for a Christian we don’t have to worry about paying our own way to Heaven. We just accept the price Jesus paid in faith. And we are excited about all the things God has done for us in the past and is going to do in the future. And now we want more of God. We want to be more like Jesus. We want God to work in our lives more and to affect more and more people through us.
We have seen how He works and how He has proven Himself faithful in the past and now we just want more! And I know how that sounds when it comes from a kid talking about toys. It sounds selfish. But when we are talking about getting more of God in your life, do you know what God says about that? Ephesians 3:20 says He is able to do more than all we ask or imagine. And Jeremiah 29:13 says that You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. And He says in Matthew 6:33that when we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, all these things will be given to you as well.
Seek more of Him. Seek to be more like Him. Seek more of His church, more of His power in your life, more of His grace and mercy flowing through you and into others, seek more of His kingdom and you will have more than you can ever imagine. That’s what God wants to do in your life.
He never says you won’t have problems. He says He wants to give you more peace in the midst of your problems. He never says you will be healthy or wealthy. He says this life is a wisp of smoke and that you will be joint heirs with Jesus to His everlasting kingdom. He says to accept that gift on faith and so we do. And that makes us excited to know what He is doing in our lives. And because He has been faithful to us, we want more of Him. Just like little kids.
I want to close with this quick word. Do you know how hard a kid has to try to be trusting and to be excited about good things and how hard he has to try to want more? He doesn’t. He doesn’t have to try to be that way. It just comes from being a kid. And I’m not telling you to try real hard to have faith or to try to be excited. You can’t fake wanting more with God. Do you know where that comes from? It comes from snuggling up so close to Jesus that you begin to think like He thinks. You start to act like He does and through that relationship with Him, you just naturally start to act like a kid getting a gift. And that is what God wants from you.
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