Debra sermon june 5th

Welcome to Cariboo Hill Temple - a Salvation Army church in Burnaby BC. My name is Debra Blackman, and I'm one of the pastors here. We're very pleased you've joined us today - so welcome! KINGDOM OF GOD: We're jumping a bit ahead in our text to Matthew 18 - so join me there in your bibles. As we come to our text in Matt 18 these kingdom questions are being thrown around again and Jesus is going to clearly correct the disciple's perceptions in a way we need to pay attention to. "At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' He called a child, and had him stand among them, and said, 'I tell you the truth, unless you turn around and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven! Whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 18:1-4) Now, what is it that Jesus is wanting them to observe in this child? Remember that the disciples are asking about "greatness". Power. Authority. Who's in charge? That's the question they want to know. In the kingdom Jesus is bringing who gets the corner office? Who will be venerated and admired? So Jesus shows them a child. How much power does a small child have? They cannot feed themselves without a parent's help. They cannot they cannot find shelter without help. They cannot protect themselves if they are attacked. If they are young enough - they may not be able to communicate what they need to say, or have basic control even over their own bodies. They need to be carried, they need to be changed, they need to be soothed. They are the least powerful of all - and they are blithely content with it. Because they know that they are in a loving relationship with a parent who will meet all of those needs - and the many others that they aren't even aware of yet. SAFE IN A PARENT'S ARMS: Have you ever had the experience of calming a small child who is wildly distraught? Perhaps you hear them cry waking up disoriented from a nap, or they've stumbled and scraped a knee - or tragedy, upon tragedies their sibling grabbed the blue cup first and only the yellow one is left - parents you know these kind of situations - things that us adults have learned to take in stride can be so overwhelming for a small child. When you pick them up they are sobbing, their tiny bodies absolutely heaving with tears and shrieks - but as they are held by the one they trust, the one who they know loves them - slowly the sobs turn to little hiccups...then sniffles...and as you rock and soothe them to a calm place you start to feel the dead weight of their little bodies sink into yours, their limbs heavy with weariness from the effort of the struggle totally relaxed and and at peace. I cannot think of a better picture of what it looks like to trust God then that child - soothed and safe in the Father's arms. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus says - it is the one who realises their own great need for God. The Psalmist describes this humble posture of being held and loved by God as he comes to worship: O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor do I have a haughty look. I do not have great aspirations, or concern myself with things that are beyond me. Indeed, I have calmed and quieted myself like a weaned child with its mother; I am content like a young child. O Israel, hope in the LORD now and forevermore!" (Psalm 131:1-3) You can utterly trust God. He loves you profoundly. He knows you much better than you know yourself. His very nature IS love. He has committed himself to buying you back from sin to the point of literally being willing to die for you. Just as a parent can look at a crying child and, with the perspective and maturity of experience, realise that what they are crying about right now may not actually be their real need. God Fathers you with a perspective of eternity. And when He gives and takes away...it is with the ultimate goal of your eternal wholeness and joy that only comes through intimacy with Him - because that's what you were made for. Do you doubt God's love for you? He knows you so intimately...Luke 12 says: "...even the hairs on your head are numbered." In Psalm 56 we hear that God keeps track of each of the tears you've cried. Listen to Psalm 139 describe the intimacy of God with you: O LORD, you examine me and know me. You know when I sit and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives. You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; You are aware of everything I do. Certainly my tongue does not frame a word without you, O LORD, being thoroughly aware of it. You squeeze me in from behind and in front; you place your hand on me. Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension; It is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. Where can I go to escape your presence? If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn, and settle down on the other side of the sea, even there your hand would guide me, Your right hand would grab hold of me. If I were to say, 'Certainly the darkness will cover me, and the light will turn to night all around me," even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, and the night is as bright as day; darkness and light are the same to you. Certainly you made my mind and heart; You wove me together in my mother's womb. I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. You knew me thoroughly; my bones were not hidden from you, when I was made in secret and sewed together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. All the days ordained for me were recorded in your scroll before one of them came into existence. How difficult is it for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! How vast is their sum total. If I tried to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. There is no one more qualified to lead us than the God who created us so purposefully, who pays such close attention to the details of our lives, and who loves us unconditionally. So, lean into his love. WELCOME & PROTECT Jesus continues - And whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me. Jesus so aligns himself with children, and with others who are vulnerable and dependant on others for care that he tells his disciples: to care for them is to care for me. In Matthew 25 Jesus will echo this sentiment saying: "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer then, 'I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me." (Matt 25:35-40) Do you see what kind of a king Jesus is? What kind of a kingdom he is bringing? It is unlike any other Kingdom on the earth. Kings align themselves with power - Jesus aligns himself with weakness. If you are out to make a name for yourself, if you're out to increase your status or personal power - you are pursing something other than the kingdom of God. And this is exactly the point Jesus is wanting his disciples (both then and today) to really understand. Jesus' tone turns very serious - almost dark here: "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! It is necessary (or inevitable) that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the person through whom they come. If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into fiery hell. See that you do not distain one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." (Matt 18:6-9) I cannot read that after the events of the last couple of weeks and not immediately go in my mind to the tragedy of the 215 children's bodies found on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops, and the many stories flooding media of survivors and children of survivors whose stories and ongoing trauma are indescribably awful. And if we listen to the tone in what Jesus is saying here.... he is very grieved and very angry when he sees the violation of children - anywhere. And sadly the many children who suffered through the residential school system in Canada are only a fraction of the grieving and pain Jesus sees as he looks out over the many places and times where children, who God gave to us to protect and steward, have come to harm through our sin. These verses have often been associated with sexual abuse - and rightfully so because as we know the long term effects of that kind of abuse that can spiral into cycles of harm and abuse that last for generations. But it is not exclusively talking about any one kind of harm. A stumbling block can be anything that we put in someone's path that ultimately discourages them or turns them from following Jesus. It might be abuse, it might be falsely representing Jesus in our teaching or through our actions. It could be rejection or neglect. In Malachi 2:7-8 The stumbling block is the poor teaching of the leaders: the prophet is pronouncing God's judgement on the priests who haven't represented God well: "For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction;" In Matthew 23:13 the stumbling block is the excessive religious rules that make people feel excluded from God: "But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in." In 1 Corinthians 8:8-9 (RSV)the stumbling block is actually not respecting the boundaries someone else might need to put in place to help them to keep focused on God. "Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak." Last week Bill preached about Peter rebuking Jesus for telling them that he would have to suffer and be killed in Jerusalem but rise again on the third day. Peter takes him aside and rebuked him saying: "God forbid, Lord! This must not happen to you!" But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but on man's." (Matt 16:22-23) What all of these stumbling blocks have in common is that they misrepresent who God is - by words or by actions - with the result that it makes it more difficult for someone to love or obey him. The warning here - particularly where Jesus is talking about us protecting children - is severe. There is the potential of very serious judgment from God. The description is rather horrifying - you'd be better off drowned, you'd be better off cutting off your hand or gouging out your eye because the judgement God will give to those who harm these vulnerable children will be worse than all that. This is not an invitation to self harm - rather its graphic hyperbole meant to shock you into hearing...there is nothing you shouldn't do to prevent this kind of harm from happening through you. It also reminds us that where it does happen, it doesn't go unnoticed. Injustice and abuse against children and the vulnerable might escape human justice - but their lives are not left unaccounted for by God: "See that you do not disdain one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." (Matt 18:10) Roughly translated that means: (sign for "eyes on you") God is attentive to children, God is protective of children, and he wants us to join Him in this wherever we have the opportunity to love them and advocate for them. THE CHURCH AS A STUMBLING BLOCK: One of the most impactful images I saw this week in our corporate grieving with residential school survivors was a line of children on their knees at the foot of their beds for mandatory prayers. They were stiff and frightened - looking as though they were lined up for a firing squad instead of praying to a loving heavenly Father. And it makes me so angry to see the enemy use the name of Jesus and associate it with abuse and pain - so that it drives a wedge not only for those who experienced that abuse - but for others who look at it and say: "So that's the church. That's Christianity - keep it far away from me please." That is a stumbling block. And it has serious consequences for everyone involved. FINDING THE LOST SHEEP: However, though people have caused harm, God's pursuit of his children continues: "For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones be lost." (Matt 18:10-14) He is not willing for them to be lost. He is not willing for them to be lost. I know this scripture has application for God's seeking all who are lost. It speaks of his love for us that never gives up. It reminds us that he is committed to our healing and wholeness. But today all I can think of are the faces of children in photos circulating from residential schools - some are gone...some are grown... Some are stuck in cycles of abuse, and poverty that have rippled out for so many years. I can picture the faces of certain people that I care for...who are in a place of lostness...and yes, some of it because of sin - but the sin came through stumbling blocks...seeds planted generations ago. And I don't really have words to put to the prayers that kind of grind away in my spirit when I think of how overwhelming this grief is. But God is not willing for them to be lost. And so, although a false representation of Jesus and the Church was used to cause harm - the real Jesus is searching for them. Loving them, rejoicing over each child who was lost and is found. Guylaine shared the women's warrior song at our Open Door gathering on Saturday and I thought it would be an appropriate way to reflect today. The song has often been used in gatherings to honor missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and seems fitting to reflect. As she sings I want to invite you to intercede in prayer - for healing, for reconciliation. That people who have come to harm under the influence of the Church would come to peace in meeting the genuine Saviour. There is much to repent of, much to learn, much to intercede for...let God's Spirit guide you as we take some time to intercede. PRAYER: