The passage we've been considering this week
is from Matthew 18:3,
where Jesus says,
"Unless you change and become like little children,
"you'll never enter the kingdom of Heaven."
And then verse 4 goes on to say,
"Therefore, whoever humbles themself like a little child
"is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven."
Humility is recognizing that we don't have all the answers.
Humility is realizing that I still need to grow and mature.
And that's the aspect of being a little child
that I want to focus on today.
One of the standing jokes in my house
is that when one of my kids,
maybe my son will come through and I'll act like I'm upset
with him and I'll say,
"Hey, wait a minute, did you grow?
"I told you not to grow,
"you're not supposed to do that."
And of course,
he'll blushingly say,
"Well, I can't help it!"
You know?
And of course,
they're right, they can't help it
because that's the nature of a child.
To mature and grow.
In fact, spiritually God wants us
to continue to mature and grow
whether we're nine or 19,
or 90.
But it's kind of easy to act like
we have everything figured out isn't it?
How easy it is to not be humble
and look at ourselves instead of look at the needs
of our neighbor.
I mean, how easy it is for us to think,
you know what, I already know what Jesus did for me
by dying on the cross,
I don't really need to develop a relationship with him.
How easy it is for us to fail to see the need to mature
and grow in our faith.
Finally, this is what God wants us to do.
Because it's what enables us to face the uncertainties
of life with the certainties of God's word.
I mean nobody says when they're growing up,
I want to grow up to be weak and scrawny,
no, everybody wants to grow up to be big and strong, right?
Kids want to grow,
parents want them to grow.
Every parent knows the answer to their child
when they say,
"I don't want to eat my peas,
"why do I have to eat my peas?"
Well, the answer is,
so that you grow up to be big and strong.
And finally, God has the same answer for us
when it comes to our spiritual growth.
Just imagine for a moment
that you've got a world class chef that comes over
to your house and he says,
I'm going to make your favorite meal.
And whatever that meal is,
I want you to picture it in your head.
Okay, you're sitting on the couch,
he's in the kitchen,
he's making everything from scratch.
All the sauces, he's preparing the meat,
all that kind of stuff.
And it's taking all day
and you're just smelling these beautiful aromas
wafting through the house
and then finally,
he's done.
And he takes a fork full of it,
he gives it to you to try.
You try it and it is the most delicious thing
you have ever had in your life.
Would you be okay with saying,
you know what, I'm good,
I don't need anymore?
No!
If it was that delicious,
you probably wouldn't want us to watch
how you devour the rest of that right?
Because you tasted how good it was.
Well, that's exactly what God says
when it comes to his word.
This is what he says in first Peter 2:2.
He says, "Like newborn babies,
"crave pure spiritual milk,
"so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
"now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."
You have experienced the goodness of God,
you've experienced how good his salvation
and his forgiveness is.
Keep devouring that all your life,
like a little child,
keep growing and maturing.
Let's pray.
Dear Jesus,
make me like a little child.
Keep me maturing and growing in your word.
When unexpected things happen in this world,
teach me to trust you implicitly,
just as a child trusts his parents.
In your name I pray, amen.
Today we talked about the need to mature and grow
in our faith through God's word.
Share a story of someone who helped you
grow and mature in your faith.
Thanks for watching this week.
God bless your weekend.