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Where A Kid Can Be A
Kid
1 John 3:1
Tonight we end
our look at living in a fast food world, but just because we are
finished talking about it doesn’t mean that we can quit thinking about
it. It is important for us to reflect on the life that we are called to
live and be different from the world in which we live. So I hope this
series served as a reminder that we all need to learn to be still work
on our relationship with God.
So we have looked at a few burger restaurants, a couple of pizza places
and even an ice cream joint, but there was a special request and I
thought that it would be the perfect part of our fast food world to end
this series on. As Trista and I sat down and went through Fast food
slogans Trafton came in and offered a little help. He looked at me and
said Dad what about Chuck E. Cheese. And I thought, what about Chuck E.
Cheese, it is a place where a kid can be a kid. What does the Bible have
to say about us acting like kids?
During my search I came across what John wrote in 1 John 3:1 "Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be
called children of God!" and my mind began to wander.
My relationship with my sons is one that conjures up mixed emotions.
They can be a tremendous joy in my life, and then 5 seconds later be a
source of frustration. I know that’s because they have a combination of
qualities -- some of them are admirable, some of them not so admirable.
As Christians, I think it’s evident that God intends for us to imitate
the admirable qualities we see in children, while trying to get rid of
the qualities that are not so admirable. Paul put it this way in 1
Corinthians 14:20, "Brethren, do not be children in understanding;
however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature."
In other words, there are certain ways we should want to be like
children, and some ways we shouldn’t. As I continued to let my mind
wander I realized that God wants me and us to be childlike, but not
childish. Tonight let’s look at eight qualities of children. Four of
them are childlike qualities that we need to develop in our Christian
lives. The other four are childish qualities that we need to outgrow as
we mature in Christ.
Qualities of a Child That We Should Not Have
Paul said, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a
child; I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away
childish things." 1 Corinthians 13:11.
Growth and maturity involve putting certain childish things behind us.
It’s been said, "You are only young once, but you can stay immature
indefinitely." Let’s look at four childish traits that we need to put
out of our lives as we grow up in Christ.
Selfishness
In our house we have Rylan’s Rules.
1. If I like it, it’s mine.
2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
5. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.
6. If I think it’s mine, it’s mine.
7. If it’s yours and I steal it, it’s mine.
There’s a lot of truth in that, Rylan’s world centers around himself.
Every night we lay Rylan down in his bed, then we lay down in bed and go
to sleep. Now, in a couple of hours, He comes to our room and wants the
best place in our bed. And wiggles for the next 6 hours just so he can
get comfortable.
Now you might think that he would reason to himself, "It’s 2:00 in the
morning. My parents are tired. I really hate to wake them up; they need
some rest. I think I’ll just wait for a few more hours before I say
anything."
But you know as well as I do that it doesn’t work that way. Instead, the
reasoning process goes something like this: "I’m lonely, and you will
comfort me right now. I don’t care what you’re doing. I don’t care what
else needs to be done. I’m going to be comforted, and I’ll keep popping
you in the face until you let me in." That’s selfish.
Rylan’s world revolves around the concept, "What do I want?" And there’s
nothing wrong with that because that’s the way God designed babies. But
there’s something very much wrong if you find a Christian who ought to
be mature in the faith acting the same way in the church. It’s important
that as we grow up in Christ, we get away from being self-centered and
that we become centered in Christ and on others.
Paul said, "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but
in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let
each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the
interests of others." (Philippians 2:3-4).
Don’t spend all your time thinking about yourself. Think about the needs
of others. Selfishness is all right in a baby, but for those of us are
seeking to grow up and mature in Christ, it’s a childish trait that we
need to get rid of.
Ignorance
Listen to these answers given by students from a church in South
Carolina to test questions on the Bible as printed in the Dec. 31, 1995
issue of "National Review".
Noah’s wife was called Joan of Ark.
Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the apostles.
The seventh commandment is "thou shalt not admit adultery."
Solomon had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.
The epistles were the wives of the apostles.
A Christian should have only one wife. This is called monotony.
Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.
Now I realize this doesn’t sound very nice, but little children are
ignorant; they don’t know very much. If you ask Trafton, "How much is
four plus two?" He doesn’t know. Ask him who the vice-president of the
United States is. He doesn’t know. Ask him what the capital of Alabama
is. He doesn’t know.
A child is ignorant, but that’s all right. He’s supposed to be, but
every year he grows more and more in knowledge, just as we should be
doing in Christ. Peter closed out his second epistle with the words,
"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ." 2 Peter 3:18.
When a person first becomes a Christian, they’re a lot like a newborn
babe; they’re going to be ignorant. You go up to a brand-new Christian
and ask him, "Who was the father of Isaac?" He may say, "I don’t know."
You ask him, "What city was Peter in when he delivered the first gospel
sermon?" He may say, "I don’t know." You ask him whether the book of
Hezekiah is in the Old Testament or New Testament. He may say, "I don’t
know."
And that’s all right. There’s nothing wrong with ignorance in a young
Christian. The problem comes when that ignorance is still there after
years and years of opportunity to grow and mature. That’s why the Hebrew
writer rebuked his readers, "For though by this time you ought to be
teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of
the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food."
(Hebrews 5:12).
He’s saying, "Over the years, you should have matured in knowledge so
that you can teach others, but you haven’t done that. You’re still
ignorant of basic truths." As we grow and mature in Christ, we need to
shed the childish trait of ignorance.
Stubbornness
My mom constantly reminds me that every child goes through periods of
stubbornness and outright rebellion. Rylan has mastered the word "no".
"Put the stick down." "No!" "Get in the car." "No!" And as a parent,
dealing with that stubbornness requires a great deal of love and
patience as the child is taught to respect authority.
The story is told of a man who was pushing a shopping cart through a
store. And in the cart was a screaming, bouncing baby boy. As the man
walked up and down the aisles, he kept saying over and over, "Don’t
yell, Brian. Calm down, Brian. Don’t get excited, Brian." A woman
standing next to him noticed what was going on and said, "You certainly
are to be commended for trying to soothe your son Brian." The man looked
at her and said, "Lady, I’m Brian!"
Even though it’s expected, stubbornness is a difficult trait to deal
with in a child. It’s even more difficult to deal with when it’s a child
of God that has the stubborn heart and is rebelling against the
authority of his heavenly Father. The attitude that says, "I know that’s
your Word says, but no, I’m not going to do it."
It’s a problem that God faced often in the children of Israel. God said
to Isaiah, "....this is a rebellious people, lying children, children
who will not hear the law of the Lord." Isaiah 30:9
As Christians, we need to meekly take God’s word into our hearts. Don’t
ever be stubborn, defying God. We need to outgrow the childish trait of
stubbornness.
No sense of value
Finally Trafton has no sense of values. Offer him a 20-dollar bill or
four one dollar bills, 9 times out of 10 he’ll take the four dollars. He
hasn’t developed a perspective on values yet. He doesn’t understand
what’s of greater importance in this world that we live in.
As Christians, we also have to mature in our sense of values. The Hebrew
writer used Esau as an example of what we shouldn’t do. "Looking
diligently, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God....lest there be
any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food
sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to
inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for
repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." Hebrews 12:15-17
Anyone who hears the story of Esau selling his birthright to Jacob for a
bowl of stew wants to blame Jacob for taking advantage of his brother.
And he did. But Esau committed the greater sin. His sin was that he
didn’t realize the value of spiritual things. A bowl of stew was of
greater value to him than the birthright with its spiritual blessings.
A lot of times, we adults make wrong choices because we really haven’t
come to understand what are the things that are truly important in this
life. We have to outgrow a childish sense of values, and come to an
understanding of the things that are really important in life.
Qualities of a Child That We Should Have
We’ve talked about some of the qualities of childishness that we need to
leave behind as we grow up and become mature in Christ, and I have
talked about some of the boy’s bad characteristics but now I get to
brag. They have so many characteristics that are beautiful. These
childlike qualities we need to retain no matter how long we’ve been
Christians.
Purity
I realize there are those who don’t believe in the purity of young
children. They believe and teach that a person is born in sin, opposed
to everything that’s good, and completely inclined to evil. That when a
baby is born into this world it is born a sinner.
They say, "A baby inherits sin just like it inherits the color of its
eyes or the color of its hair." They claim that sin is has been handed
down all the way from Adam. But listen to what Ezekiel had to say to the
Israelites, "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the
guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son." Ezekiel
18:20
What he’s saying is that if a father commits murder, God doesn’t
consider the son guilty; he considers the father guilty. So, what sin
has a baby committed? Obviously none at all. He can’t be held guilty for
his own sin because he hasn’t committed any yet. And God says that he
won’t hold him guilty for anything his parents have done. So the only
alternative is that that child is pure and innocent.
That why Jesus held children up as an example of purity and said, "Let
the little children come to me, and do not forbid them; for of such is
the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:14
Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven belongs to people who are like
little children. Now if a little child is filled with sin, then that
statement doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The truth is that children
are pure and innocent.
When we come up out of the waters of baptism, we are just as pure and
guiltless as that newborn baby. As Christians, don’t ever outgrow the
childlike trait of purity.
Humility
Trafton is not concerned about being great as we often define greatness.
He doesn’t care if you have more money than he does. He doesn’t care if
you are more athletic than he is. He doesn’t care if you’re better
looking than he is. He has no concern at all for prominence. Trafton
doesn’t make a conscious effort to be humble, he just is. He makes no
pretense to be somebody important. And it’s not important to him that he
be somebody important.
It was this trait of a child that Jesus tried to impress upon his
disciples in Matthew 18. It happened, no doubt, after the apostles had
another of their many arguments about which one of them was the
greatest. You can just picture them in your minds. Peter, James and John
especially all arguing, "I’m the greatest. When the kingdom comes, I’m
going to sit in the throne on the right hand of Jesus." Maybe Nathaniel
saying, "But I’ve got royal blood." Maybe Judas piping in, "I’ve got the
moneybag; that gives me some special privileges." Finally, somebody
says, "Let’s let Jesus decide this once and for all."
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ’Who then is greatest
in the kingdom of heaven?’ And Jesus called a little child to him, set
him in the midst of them, 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." Matthew 18:1-3
If we want to please God, we have to duplicate that childlike attribute
of humility in our own lives.
Teachability
Rylan doesn’t mind admitting that he doesn’t know. In fact, if no is his
favorite word then why is his favorite question. If there’s one thing a
child knows how to do, it’s ask questions. "Why Daddy, why”
That inquisitive nature in children is something that we often lose as
we grow older. Our attitude toward questions as adults is often to say,
"I don’t know and I don’t care." We’ve learned enough and our minds are
closed. As Christians, as children of God, it is imperative that we
remain receptive, we remain teachable. Peter said, "As newborn babes,
desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby." 1 Peter 2:2
You have to desire the milk. You have to want to study and want to
learn. We need to remain teachable.
Trusting
Trafton is dependent. He takes comfort in holding my hand. He’s
perfectly content to be utterly dependent on Trista.
As Christians, where is our trust? God has promised to take care of us.
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
"For he himself has said, ’I will never leave you nor forsake you.’"
Hebrews 13:5. Let us have a childlike faith!
Let’s be honest with ourselves. Have we been able to retain the
desirable qualities of children, while putting away the undesirable
ones? Are we childlike, or are we childish? Hopefully each of us has
determined to "grow up in Christ" -- to put off immature ways and to put
on mature qualities
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