How We Grow: Like the Little Children

Let us pray…Gracious, loving, and ever patient God, we are here this day to hear your words for us. Speak into our hearts and help us to be open to your Spirit’s prompting for our lives every day, Amen.

As we begin this morning, there is so much going on in our world. So much turmoil and conflict, that it is often hard to hear God’s word for us amid all the din and noise that we are bombarded with. There are many who face so much hurt and pain and I have to be honest, I don’t have answers for any of the issues we are facing these days. It’s hard to know what to believe and how to take what we hear and use it for our lives. My additional prayer for us this morning is that we can be open to the Spirit’s prompting to hear the words that God has for us, that our eyes and ears are open to hear God’s Still-speaking voice, and that what you hear in the coming moments might give you hope and promise of a better tomorrow but also to equip you to do what is needed in the coming week. That is my prayer each week as I prepare a time to reflect on the scripture for us.

Now, I would be remiss if I did not say that some of what we have been studying lately does seem to be a call to do more. Amid this pandemic and the questions that it brings up, it is hard to be willing to do. We are facing challenges in our everyday living that make things hard to be in contact with others. Recently, I realized how hard those who work in hospitals do work to keep us safe and healthy. I have to give props to those on the front lines of this pandemic, from those who work in the streets for public health and safety to those who spend their days and evenings cleaning hospital rooms to those who are just trying to stay alive in their daily work environments, meaning doing what they can to maintain their jobs. I have had chats with some folks in the last few weeks and this is the common thread that has run through each of those conversations…and the question that comes to the surface for me, at least, is what can we be doing to make things better. This is not to say that I have also heard a lot about what is that God is trying to get us to do in this time.

I think that is a question for all the ages, past, present, and future. And you know for me, what it comes down to, what it really comes down to, is this idea that we are sent into the world, not to be soft and squishy with a luke-warm faith but rather to stand on the front lines of what we believe and help others to see the hope that comes from having a growing faith. Over the next few weeks, as we gather in this virtual space and back in our physical space, I hope, we are going to explore how we grow in our faith so that others can see the Spirit moving, know that we are fighting for what is right in this world, and grab hold of that fight and stand beside us to make this world better, to make it more of what Jesus had envisioned it would be when he walked the face of the earth two thousand years ago.

Boy, when you say it, it seems like such a long time ago, but in all reality, Jesus’ words for us are just a relevant today as they were when he was alive for the first time and after as the disciples were sent into the world to preach about God’s love and presence. This to me, is the heart of what Matthew records for us in the Gospel lesson this morning...

Today we heard some words from Jesus that are really hard to comprehend as humans and I want us to spend a few moments with them so that we can partake of the meal we are going to share and use it to grow our faith just a little more this day. So, I want to start with the very beginning of this passage and walk our way through it this morning...

God supplies the resources for spiritual growth

I want to say this right from the very start…God gives us what we need, when we need it, to make sure that we are constantly growing and stretching our faith. The last few months are no exception to this idea. Each thing that we encounter in our lives gives us an opportunity to be stretched. By being stretched, we are also given an opportunity to grow and expand so that we are equipped to do more, not less. I want to say this too…when we are stretched, it is not to gain more members in our community of faith but rather to win more hearts for God. That was Jesus’ ultimate purpose, to change the hearts and minds of those who heard his words so that more would be willing to stand at the forefront of what is wrong in the world and say, “This is not right and we need to make it better...” So, stick with me here, I think you will see how we can be doing these things even today, without fighting, arguing, and being in each other’s faces but rather, sitting down at tables, having conversations, and coming up with solutions that brings peace rather than turmoil because I truly believe with my whole heart that is what this world needs more than anything…conversations and being willing to not just talk but listen to one another...

But I am going off on a tangent here so let’s get us re-focused…in this portion of Matthew’s record of Jesus’ life, we are witnessing the end of a long teaching on what it is going to be like to do the things that I have just been talking about…going into the world to fight for what is right and just for all. The piece that I read a few moments ago is the end of that charge to go out. Over the last few weeks, we heard Jesus telling the disciples that they are going to face much in the world and that the world is not going to like what they have to say because the world does not like what Jesus has said so far. Today’s world is no different…how many of us are hesitant to speak about our faith because we are afraid of what someone will think about us?

I liken this to a time in my own life and even still today, in certain circumstances, when I did not/do not want folks to know that my profession was that of an ordained minister (or at another time a seminarian). This world is so full of hate toward clergy and those who try to pass along a message of love. The reason for this…well to be honest, I did not want to be seen as a religious zealot. I did not want to be called a hypocrite and I still do not like to be called that. But here’s the thing, if we are unwilling to let people into our lives and to know that we believe that God has a greater purpose for our lives, how is this world ever going to be different? I am not saying go out on your local street corner to hold a sign that says, “The End is Near”, unless that is what you feel God is telling you to do, but at the same token we need to be better about making sure others can hear the message that Christ is clearly sending. And this is what he says in this particular passage. Listen to this piece again...

Matthew 11:27 NLT

“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

So, if God is saying into your heart at this moment that you need to go out and let the world know that there is a better way to be, then I say, you need to go out and do it. Whatever that looks like, go out and have the faith of a child to believe that God will give you the words you need when you need them. Listen gang, if we are truly going to make a difference in our community, and I am not talking about the church family here, but the community at large, we need to be doing. We are all here already…it is not helping the world to stay focused inward on the things that we already know and the ones we already know. I am not saying that each person in this community of faith is not as important as anyone else, but to be brutally honest, focusing inward is not stretching or growing our faith at all. I get it, we have been immersed in a culture that tells us when things get hard, we need to hunker down, circle the wagons, and wait out whatever is causing us pain or hurt. But I don’t believe that this is what Jesus truly desired for his disciples…if he did, would he have challenged them to go out amongst the wolves? I mean come on, let’s get real here for a moment…Jesus never once said stay here forever. He might have told the disciples to stay for a little while but he never said stay put for forever!

Now, a couple weeks ago, we looked at a passage that told us it would be hard to do what Jesus called us to do…we do still call ourselves disciples, right? And that was really hard to hear. He told us that we would not have a life full of cherries with no pits. Rather he said, that the road would be hard and bumpy. We can see how true that is, there is no doubt...

God’s people must make efforts to grow spiritually

But he did tell us that we need to do certain things in order that the world would know who sent us…I hope you remember that…it was a challenge to grow and be more, not be stagnant. Here’s some tidbits that can help us to grow and I am praying that you are listening like a child intently rapt on his or her parents words…that is what it means to have childlike faith by the way…to be willing to listen and then do…like I said last week…monkey see, monkey do time here gang…so what is that we need to hear and then do?

Death to self-interest

The writer of Colossians puts it this way...

Colossians 3:5 The Message

And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God.

Essentially, we need to put away the things that take us away from God, i.e. the things of this world that we think we cannot live without. If there is something in our lives that keeps us from being in relationship with God. You know what is taking you away from God, and so we are challenged, if we want to be true disciples, that we need to focus upon what brings God glory…is it a building, is it the car that is better than the one the neighbor has, it is the biggest house, the brightest child, and I could go on. When we look at things and possessions for more than being something that we use, we begin to idolize them and this my friends, moves us away from God...

We also need to be stretched in our thinking...

The Scriptures

When it comes to stretching our thinking and growing in our faith, we need to be doing more with the words that others have given us…this time from Paul...

Ephesians 6:17 The Message

and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon.

The word weapon has been abused but it is quite appropriate because we are definitely fighting a battle. I don’t thin Paul meant that we should be using the Bible as a means to beat people up but rather as a tool to help us to stretch and grow what we know and believe. When I started in ministry, I had no idea what the Bible said as I had not spent much time looking or reading what God had given others to say. Now, more than 10 years in ministry, I can honestly say that I am closer to God and what I need in my faith because I have spent time reading, studying, and trying to understand what the words God has for me in the writings of others. Are we spending enough time doing these things?

Another piece that is really important in stretching and growing is...

Prayer

While this might seem obvious, it is not always what we turn to. I would argue that while we might pray often, it is not enough. There are so many times in the Gospels that we hear of Jesus spending time away from everyone and everything, speaking words to God about what he is seeing and hearing in his own time. In fact, the beginning of the piece I read a bit ago is just another example of how Jesus prays...

Matthew 11:25 CEB

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you’ve hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have shown them to babies.

In this piece, Jesus admits that for those who thought they had all the answers, the truth really wasn’t revealed to them. He was referring to the Pharisees and Sadduccees. Those people of his time that felt they knew how to be in this world and that theirs was the only way to be closer to God. They had the ruling authority and power. But here’s the thing, no one has all the answers, not even me. No one can tell you that they have the only way to be closer to God. Remember I said a few moments ago that it was about relationship? Well, to be brutally honest again, our relationship to God and with God is about being in conversation and it is a unique thing to each one of us. I do not have all the answers and thank God that I do not. But relationships can only be built and maintained by open, honest, and truthful relationships and the key to all relationships is conversation. The way we converse with God, prayer.

There is one last piece I want us to think about this morning…

Matthew 11:27 The Message

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. “The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.

Jesus is reminding those around him about what it means to be in relationship. Like I have said numerous times this morning and to seriously hammer the point home, our life of faith and growth in that faith relies upon our relationship to God. Here Jesus is telling us, today’s disciples, that we need to know him in order to truly know God. If we truly know Christ, then we can truly know God.

All these things that we have covered this morning will bring us into closer relationship with the one to whom all things belong. Nothing we are or have is something of our own creation. Nothing we are or have is because solely of what we have done. We are like little children who need to be reprimanded and scolded for doing some of the things we have done. But we also need to learn from what we have done so that we do not make the same mistakes over and over again. It is not about feeling guilty for what we have done but rather learning and doing better the next time.

I heard it said recently that when we do something wrong or forget to do something, it is not about being guilty because that holds us back and keeps us from moving forward. Like when we are just too darn tired to brush our teeth before we go to bed or to take our medicine, we don’t get up the next morning and beat ourselves up every moment of the day because we didn’t do something we should have. No, we go through our day as if nothing had been forgotten. And when night comes, we do our best to do what it is that we need to remember to do that night. Not doing the things that we are called to do in this world is much like this…Jesus does not tell us once to feel guilty about falling short but rather,

Matthew 11:29 The Message

Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

It is about being willing to learn, to watch (like our children do when they are small), and then move forward, taking the next best step for you. This world needs people with childlike faith to lead them toward the things that bring peace and comfort. We all deal with enough guilt…let’s not carry those heavy burdens any longer and take the message of love and comfort into the world that is hurting, Amen.