Suffer the Children to Come
First B Jackson
2023-09-17

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

----
Good morning, everybody. How are you? I didn't hear anything back. How are you? Alright.

Would you stand? We're gonna sing because he lives. Because he lives. Hymn number three fifty eight. The hymnals are up here if you want one but the words will come up on the wall.

Sound great this morning. How about Amazing Grace? Let's sing another one that we. Watch the key change on the last verse. Amen.

Y'all can have a seat. Oh, a few announcements this morning. Let's see what they are. There are lots of Bible studies going on. Last week after announcing about seven of them, somebody had the forethought to say, why don't we just get them to check the board in the back back there because there are so many.

So check out. There's a Bible study board in the lobby. It's find a study, contact the leader and just connect to it. It's a good time. There are lots of different ones.

Ladies Bible studies, men's Bible studies, kids, older people. There's all kinds of stuff going on. So, it's the way it is. Yeah. So, Look Up.

Look Up tour with Will Graham. So this is sort of a Billy Graham style rally happening in Idaho Falls. The youth night, kids night is September 23 next Saturday. The come as you are for all ages is the twenty fourth in the evening, next Sunday evening. Idaho Falls look up tour with Will Graham is happening at the Mountain America Center.

It is free and you are invited. And you are invited to bring somebody with you. Somebody that might not know Jesus. Bring them. So that's happening.

Mountain America Center next weekend. There's a discovery class that's happening here next weekend in between services. So at 10:00, you if want to know more about the church, if you want to get a chance to speak to someone, Gary Geek is going to be leading a discovery class in my office. Second door down the hall on the left, that way. If you want to come to the discovery class, you're more than welcome.

Youth group. Youth group. Middle school. Isn't that fun? Youth group.

Middle school Sunday, three to five. So that's here at the church, 03:00 in the afternoon till till five down the hall in the fellowship hall, and they will meet and usually eat together too. So that was fun. Last week, they were playing pickleball and eating hamburgers before getting into the word, which was really, really good. I happened in time just for the hamburgers.

I didn't get the pickleball, but that's alright. High school meets on Thursday evening, 06:30 to eight. It is sort of an alliance of all the different churches in town who are willing to meet together. So high school is Thursday night at the tribe ministry center that is on Broadway, just past the Farm Bureau Insurance place or across the street from, like, Carquest and, the whole grocer. Across the street there is the Tribe Ministry Center, 06:30 to eight on Thursday evenings, and that is a well attended group, and they are, it's going well.

So thank you. Keep on praying for them. We're gonna do our best to keep on connecting with them. Connect hour happens between services. Kimberly and Bruce took care of that today.

And if you would like to, you can take care of it for the upcoming weeks, and upcoming weeks soon. There are volunteers needed to kinda have something out there between services, and it'll look however you want it to. If you're volunteering, you can do whatever you wanna do with it. Doesn't have look any particular kind of way. There's also Monday night, we have put on pause for now to throw our efforts and resources into Owana, but we still are gonna be providing a meal for the Owana volunteers ahead of time.

It's around 05:15. If you can provide a Monday night meal for the Awana volunteers, that would be great. You can sign up for that. Anything other than that, you can sign up for weekly church announcement emails at firstbjoxin.org. I have one more that in the first service, we announced our new children's volunteer coordinator is Ray Espinoza.

Ray and Brittany. Brittany grew up here. Ray has grown up here. No. He's a youth he's a youth leader.

That's funny to say that he grew up. Everybody knows that doesn't happen. No. He was he has been in youth ministry in the past. He's been in children's ministry in the past.

And God led them here to first be because of the children's mini ministry as it has already existed with Liz being in charge. When Liz took the job at Kelly School, Ray and Brittany said that they would take this on to help do the volunteer coordinate. And he brought his whole family up here this morning and said, howdy do. So that's Ray Espinosa. Now there are two Ray's in the office.

I don't want for the that to get confused. We look nothing alike. But he's a good guy and seeking after what the Lord has for him in this position. So that's happening. Anything else?

Alright. I'm glad you're here this morning. Would you stand? And we're gonna sing holy holy. And Blake always likes me to throw it in, but not to be confused with holy the We're to midst I did not announce Awana.

I just realized there's no slide. Awana starts tomorrow night. Maybe from the sermon, it'll be obvious that we care about children but Awana starts tomorrow night. I don't want to forget that. 05:45 tomorrow evening is the first official night that Awana is back.

So, that's the announcement I knew I was forgetting one. Y'all can have a seat. I'm it's time for the worship through giving time. I'll invite the ushers but I saw him right there Grabbing an extra hand. Lord God almighty, we ask that you would, lord.

I I'm amazed. I I woke up this morning. Lord, thank you that I woke up thankful. Lord, to have breath in my lungs and to live in this place, in this beautiful fall. Thank you, Lord, for all that you are doing in this valley.

Thank you for the changes that are happening in this valley. Lord, we oftentimes, we're not thankful for change. And it's and it's easy to fall into a a pit. So Lord, I'm asking that we would recognize the beauty of what's going on around us, that we recognize the advance of the gospel that's going on around us, and that we would be a part of it, Lord. In Jesus' name, I ask you to bless everything that goes in these plates, whether it is literal, financial resources, whatever that's going in there, or if it's metaphorical, Lord, that we are placing in these plates our whole selves, our lives, recognizing that you are the giver of every good and perfect gift for us, and we want to give back to you.

That we bring what we have and offer it to you, Lord. Our time, our conversations, the meditations of our heart, and the words. Lord God Almighty, would you use your humble and obedient servants to do your will in your way in this community and to the very uttermost parts. In Jesus' name, ask your blessing on this offering. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Judy. Look at this. Isn't this fun? This is a baptism on Friday morning at about ten minutes after seven in Slide Lake, which the ambient temperature was about 39 outside and the water temperature wasn't much warmer than that.

But this is a bride for a wedding that happened last night. And just before she was baptized, her husband to be, now husband, was baptized. And so what a privilege it is to be here. What a privilege it is to be here and get to do this. My own personal little thing, I love marriage and Tanya and I wandered into a courthouse thirty one years ago.

September 14 was our anniversary, so I'm dwelling on this. We wandered into a courthouse at five minutes till five on a Monday afternoon and got married. And the judge said yes. He didn't have to, but he did. And so I try to say yes as often as I can.

And last week, unbeknownst to me, there was a couple that walked through the door just before. And I did their wedding eight years ago, and they were just coming back to say, we're visiting the area and we wanted to be in church with you all this morning. On Monday morning, I had somebody call Sunday evening and said, hey, we're in town. You married us ten years ago. And so I had breakfast with them at the Virginian.

And then I got a chance to baptize these on Friday, do their wedding on Saturday. And it's just a tremendous blessing to be able to be here, to have this kind of a this platform is one thing, but it provides a lot of other platforms to speak into people's lives and to be a part of what God is doing. It's amazing. So I just I I thought it was beautiful. Oh, the photographer.

I did her wedding four years ago. Yeah. So we're back to our harmony of the gospel study. For the last few sermons, the last, I don't know, probably six or seven sermons that I have been presenting or preaching, it has been from Luke because Luke speaks alone for a little while. He's got some stories that other gospel writers don't have in there.

And all of them do that a little bit, but Luke has been speaking alone for the past few sermons. We're up to Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 18. It's the same passage. It is about suffering the children to come to Jesus. Suffer the children.

Suffer the children? Really? I used to be so thrown by that when I was little. And then it made a little sense too because while you're sitting in church and you're trying to be quiet, you're trying not to rustle the candy wrapper they've given you. You're trying not to, you know, make little army men out of the side pieces of the Sunday school literature.

And you're trying, it is suffering so bad. Or at least it was for me. I was a very strong willed child, And my parents were great. No complaints. But suffering the children, I felt like I did a little bit of that.

That's an old King James. And unless you're a Shakespearean actor or aficionado, you probably don't use suffer in this sense at all anymore. Suffer in the children, that word, if you look it up in the Merriam Webster, this is it. To submit or be forced to endure. Does that sound like church?

That's not the way it's meant though. To be, To feel keenly, to labor under. Is that the way church is? To undergo or experience? No.

To put up with especially as it's inevitable or unavoidable. Those are all the ways that we use suffer. But the fourth definition here is the way that it's meant by the King James or by Shakespeare to allow, especially by reason of indifference. Doesn't that sound weird? To allow it to happen, to permit it.

Shakespeare says, the eagle suffers the little birds to sing. He allows it. Although he could whoop them, he just lets it happen. Right? So that's the definition.

I am not going to use the King James. I'm going use the New American Standard. It sounds the most like I sound when I speak. And it's not a southern version. It's just the New American Standard.

Sounds the most like we talk, I think. So this is all we're covering today. It's the same story told three times by the three gospel writers. Each of them have a little bit of nuance that I'm gonna try to point out. And we'll start right here with Matthew.

Matthew 19 says, and then some children were brought to him. This is probably around either Perea, just on the other side of the Jordan, or lower I mean, Upper Judea, maybe. But some children were brought to him so that he would lay his hands on them and pray. Okay. So that's passive voice.

They were brought. What do kids do? They go wherever they're taken. Right? Because they usually don't have a whole lot of autonomy.

So passive voice, the children were brought to him so that he would lay his hands on them and pray. Mark says, and they were bringing children to him so that he, Jesus, would touch them. So they that's a different set of people that are bringing them. But it doesn't say who they were. They were bringing children to him so that he would touch and bless them.

Now Luke says, now they were bringing even their babies, even their babies. So who is it that's bringing the kids? It is the the parents. Their parents are bringing their kids and they recognize something good in Jesus and they want for him to bless their kids. So they're bringing it, even their babies, so that he would touch them.

And the disciples rebuked them. Oh, isn't that terrible? It's not the pharisees this time. Just about time you get comfortable with the pharisees being the bad guys. Right?

It's the disciples that get the rebuke, and the disciples are rebuked. I mean, I'm sorry. The disciples are rebuking the ones who are bringing the kids, or are they break rebuking the kids? Let's look through it. In Matthew, it says, the disciples rebuked them.

The only object that we have is the children, but it's passive voice. It could be someone else. You know, whenever there's a passive voice like were brought, it could be a divine passive. God could be bringing those kids. Right?

Not just could be, kinda is by virtue of the fact that God is the prime mover. Then some children were brought to Jesus so that he would lay his hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked the ones who were bringing them. Or did he rebuke the kids? Let's see what Mark says.

Mark says, and they were bringing children to him so that he would touch them, but disciples rebuked them. They were bringing. That's the parents. Or could it be they're rebuking the children? Could be.

Might have been both. Don't you know better than to bring those brats in here? What does Luke say? Luke says, but when the disciples saw what was happening these are the disciples. These are the 12.

These are the ones that are right there. They've been with him for three years. If you're looking chronologically, we're about two weeks out from Holy Week right now. Two weeks out from the cross chronologically in Luke 18. Best we can tell.

When the disciples saw what was going on, they've been with Jesus for three years. And when they saw that those little snot nosed brats were sneaking up on Jesus, they just said, oh, I can't stand it. He's got so much wisdom, and it's for and they're just sneaking to the front of the line, knocking their baseball caps off. You know better than to bring these young'uns in here. But Jesus said, leave the children alone.

I and when I see this, I see it in Spanish too. Let them be. Leave the children alone, and do not forbid them to come. That's a double command right there. The double command is let them be and don't hinder them.

So it's it's emphatic. It's twice he says it. And the word that he uses for leave the children alone is affiemi. Affiemi. I use this word every single week at some point, usually in premarital counseling.

Premarital. Because if I only get a few minutes to talk to someone, what I'm gonna talk to him about is forgiveness. And in the Bible, most often, most common is the word for forgiveness. And it means release. Let it go.

Let it go. Actually, I'll give you the four definitions to this one, a b c and d. A is to send it away in first John one nine. First John one nine is the mechanism, right, where we can know if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to be sending away our sin as far as the east is from the west into the sea of forgiveness where he will remember it no more. Though your sins be as scarlet, they'll be as white as snow because he has sent them away.

He has let them go. He has released them. He has permitted your sins to depart. He has remitted. The price has been paid on the cross.

He has forgiven. They're gone. And then this last one makes it makes it kinda difficult. Because when we're sitting there and we know what someone has done to us and we know the grief that it gives us and makes us feel, we can sit there and stew because we have been offended. And we feel like if we forgive it, we are permitting evil.

Well, truth is that's exactly what you're doing. But think about this. Every single sin that has ever been committed by anyone towards anybody else or towards God himself, every single one of them will either be justly condemned or mercifully forgiven. Release it is what we're commanded to do. Actually, in the Lord's prayer, he says, be forgiving me, our father.

Be forgiving me the same way I'm willing to forgive other people. Release it. Let it go. So in this case, when it says allow, he's saying release them to be able to come to me. That's what Matthew says.

What does Luke say? Luke says, before he even gets to that allow, he says this, but Jesus called for the little ones. Where the disciples were rebuking either the parents or the kids or both, the disciples, that's us people, where we're holding them at arm's length, Jesus is saying, bring it on. Send them. Bring it on.

We want them. I want them to be here. I want them to know God. I want them to meet and know me. I want them to receive the blessing.

Jesus called for the little ones saying this. It's again, is the second person plural command. Y'all be letting them. Y'all be sending them towards me. Y'all be releasing them to come to me.

And don't be forbidding them. Affate. There it is again. How did he say it? Oh my goodness.

Mark tells us that. Mark says, and when Jesus saw what was happening, that the disciples were rebuking the kids or their parents. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He was upset. He was angry.

Jesus was angry because, why? Because they were holding back people from getting to see and know him. They were holding them back from a blessing by preconceived notions. Children are to be seen and not heard. They're second class citizens.

They shouldn't even be around here anyway. They don't know how to act. They were keeping kids back, and this upset Jesus. And it says, flatly, he was indignant. Actually, the word right there is that.

I won't even pronounce that. The definition though is to grieve much. He was much grieved. Can you think about Jesus having been with these same guys for three years? And they've seen how he is, and they've seen who he is.

And 85% of the miracles that he did were interruptions. Right? 80 something percent, maybe 90%, are the ones that where he's on the way to help so and so, the centurion's slave, and the woman touches the hem of his garment. He's on his way somewhere else. He welcomed interruptions even though he did get alone and pray.

He did welcome the interruptions, and he's much grieved that the disciples had not picked up on that. And he was upset by it. He was angry. Even incensed is a good way of translating that. And while we're here, what makes Jesus angry?

In this text, it's hindering children from coming to Jesus. That upsets Jesus, hindering kids from being there. So if I'm looking at my life and I think, and is there anything I'm doing to keep kids from coming to Christ? By my systems, by my way that I am, the way that I act, is there anything that I personally am doing to hinder kids? I don't wanna I don't wanna be upsetting to the Lord and master of all.

I wanna do the best I can to release kids towards Jesus and not hinder them. And so some of his anger in the New Testament is directed at people who would hinder children from coming to him. Actually, there's another passage we'll get to in a minute where he's saying, woe be unto you if you inhibit a child's growth. Right? If you cause one of these little ones to sin.

So hindering children from coming to him. Lord, help us never to hinder any child from coming to you. May Awana be a blessed place that is welcoming and receives kids from all backgrounds into a place where they can get to know you and be blessed by you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

The next thing that makes Jesus mad, I think if if we ask if I ask you when was Jesus angry in the New Testament, most people would say, well, he flipped over the tables in the temple. He was upset with people who were blocking access to God and for gain. They were the people who were selling the pigeons and selling stuff and charging exorbitant interest on any exchange where they would use temple money. Right? The money changers.

They were blocking people's access to God. Jesus said, this is supposed to be a house, a prayer for people from all nations and all backgrounds, and you're stopping it for your own selfish gain. You're stopping their access to God. So he gets upset about that, blocking people's access. The third place where I see where he was angry and it says so was when people refused to help a man with a shriveled hand for religious reasons.

He was in church, basically. He was in an assembly synagogue. And there was a guy there who had a shriveled hand, and Jesus recognized it. And when he called the man over, the other people started to get upset. Surely, he's not gonna do this.

And it made him upset and angry that they were not willing to help because of the Sabbath law for religious reasons. Do you notice a theme here? Religiosity seems to be part of it. The very hardness of the human heart. If you look immediately before this in canon order, in scripture order, in all three of these gospels, there's a section on divorce and the pharisees confronting Jesus about divorce.

And it talks about how divorce is a concession of God. In the law of Moses, it was a concession of God because of the hardness of the human heart. He said it should not be this way, but it is this way. The human heart is very, very deceptive, Jeremiah says. And even down to the point of being deceptive and deceitfully evil.

And the hardness of the heart is something that is upsetting to Jesus. Oh, that you would have known your day of visitation when he's crying over Jerusalem, But you would have none of it. And then death itself. At Lazarus' graveside, we see Jesus wept. We see that he was very upset for the loss that the sisters had endured.

Even though he knew that resurrection was real and possible. Even though Martha expressed that she knew resurrection was real and possible and had every bit of faith that it was going to happen one day, death itself seemed to be the object of Jesus' wrath. I I like what BB Warfield said about that. His anger at Lazarus' tomb. It is death that is the object of Jesus' wrath.

And behind that death, him who has the power of death. The deceptive evil adversary, accuser of the brethren, the father of lies, the devil, and whom he has come into this world to destroy. Tears of sympathy may fill his eyes. In John eleven fifty three where it says, Jesus wept. But this is incidental.

His soul, the very soul of Jesus is held by rage. Not in cold unconcerned, but in flaming wrath against the foe, the devil that Jesus smites on our behalf. That hit me this week. I really appreciate what he wrote on it. Here's the passage that I mentioned earlier.

Now, he said to his disciples we covered this about six weeks ago or seven weeks ago. He said to his disciples, it's inevitable that stumbling blocks are gonna come. We live in a fallen world. Yes. People are gonna have stumbling blocks.

But woe to the one through whom they come. It's better for him if a millstone is hung around his neck and he's thrown into the sea, then that he may cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard. Church, can I say we should just be on our guard? It's actually plural right there.

Be on y'all's guard. It's, be on y'all's guard. Pay attention to how we are treating outsiders and how we're treating kids. How are we treating the little ones? And it's not just here at church.

It's at home. And it's at school. And we have lots of teachers and school administrators and bus drivers who are in the lives of a lot of the kids in this community, we need to be on our guard that what we're doing is not hindering someone from coming to Christ. So when Jesus saw this, he was indignant. And he said to them, who did he say it to?

He said it to the disciples, allow the children to come to me. Do not forbid them. Again, with the for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Matthew says, now, what does Mark say? Mark says, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

And I went on a long rabbit trail this week to tell the difference. If it makes a difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. I don't think it does. In this case, I don't think it does. The kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Kids are not in control of a whole lot. And they're not able to control a whole lot. Now some of us strong willed kids tried to control as much as we could. My mother had a dog eared copy of every Dobson book there was. Rambunctious Ray ran roughshod over a lot.

But the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. There is an innocence about childhood that allows for them to trust God. Sometimes in a way that's easier and better. This says easier, better than the way that we trust God. For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Luke says the same exact sentence. And truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all. Humility before God. Humility before God is a requirement for accepting Christ. Accepting the kingdom that is being offered.

Humility before God. Taking the gift that God is offering. Truly I say to you, Mark says, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all. I've got a graph here. This is from a Barna study and a couple of other studies.

There was an amalgamation of about three very well known studies. And they're asking people who claim Christ in their life, so Christians, evangelical Christians, Christians. When was it that you trusted in Jesus? And this is the result. 85% trust between the ages of four and 14.

I remember a lady in my church growing up. Her name was Zany Bennett. Zany Bennett was a Sunday school teacher, and I remember her coming to class with the little David C. Cook, you know, Sunday school literature with the drawings. And I remember sitting there in her class and listening and listening to her.

And I knew how she lived her life. And I loved her and she loved me and there was no doubt about either of those things. And I trusted that what she had to say was from the Bible because it was. And she asked what our favorite verse was. I was probably in the second grade, maybe third grade.

And she said, well, what's your favorite verse? And I thought, aren't they all good? I still kind of feel that way. I mean, present them as even handed as I can. The pastor who was the church pastor there was there from the time I was two until I was 14.

Brother Don Voyles. He's been back there for twelve years now. So he was there eleven years when I was a little kid, and he's been back twelve years now that I've been the whole time I've been here, he's been there. Interim pastor there. And I knew that he presented the Bible for what it said each Sunday.

And at Sunday school that morning, presented and said, well if you don't have a favorite one, this is a good one. And she shared John three sixteen. And I thought, man, that is a good one. And it's all about belief. And this is what this is about.

At the tender age of eight, nine, 10, we're willing to listen to stuff that we will push away at 16, 17, 18. Right? So 85% come from four to 14. 10 more between 15 and 30. And then it gets to be less and less.

30 plus is 4%. But I do want to say this. It is still available. It is still out there. And it might seem, wow, the odds are not great that so and so, my daughter, my cousin, my friend had a guy call one time and invite me over to the hospital in ICU.

And I went, and he was 90, 90 years old. The way the guy introduced himself to me, the first time he introduced himself was just four or five months earlier. And he had said, I'm so and so, and I'm a contented agnostic. I had just done a wedding, by the way. And he was at the wedding.

He said, I'm so and so. I'm a contented agnostic grandfather of the groom. And so I thought, well, I know where he stands. I don't have to chase him down. But four months later, he's in the ICU.

And he called, and when I got there, he said, I'm not nearly as contented as I was. Praise God that he recognized that and he trusted in Christ. No one is beyond the pale. But it is a ripe time when kids are little. If we can love them and share with our words, Jesus, in the scriptures, give them confidence that they can go forward, It's a good time.

Because if you don't receive it like that, it makes it very, very difficult life. Jesus says if you don't receive it like a child, even though you may be older, it took the faith of a child for that old man to accept it. But he did. And this says in Mark, it says, and he took them in his arms and he began blessing them, laying his hands on them. That's why the parents brought him in the first place, was so that he would lay hands on them and bless them.

And this says in Mark, that even though there's a little tete a tete back and forth with the disciples about, come on, don't hinder him. Let him come to me. I'm glad that they're here. And it says he took him in his arms and he blessed them. There's another place in scripture where Jesus takes a child in his arms and said, this is the way it's gotta be.

Just right here, as accepting as this kid is, this is the way it's gotta be. He took him took him in his arms. He blessed him, and he laid his hands on them. I'd say allowing access to Jesus brings God's blessing. Lord God almighty, may we be a church that really, really opens up access to who you really are.

May we not be straying to the right or to the left. May our own personal bent not hinder a child. Amen. He took them in his arms and blessing them. He was laying his hands on them, and then I'll close with this one from Matthew.

Matthew says, and after laying his hands on them and blessing them, he departed from there. He kept on moving. I'm sure that there were other kids that would come along, and he would welcome them. If you haven't seen The Chosen, one of my favorite scenes in The Chosen is Jesus out there and with the kids. And then later on, when he's in town teaching, the kids are sitting up on the roof, and they're like, yeah, we know this guy.

Isn't that good? It's like, he was not bothered by them. He wanted them to come to him. I think that's the last of the slides that I have. I need the every hour.

We can unconsciously hinder people, and we can unconsciously block people. And oftentimes when we do that, it will be our religiosity taking over. Okay? I have seen before somebody just slap a baseball cap off of a kid's head and said, don't you know better than coming to church with a hat on? And I just think, well, I'll remember it next time.

You know? Let's don't expect for people who don't know Jesus to act like they do. And let's expect of ourselves, if we if we know Jesus, let's take this rebuke and do everything we can to release and allow kids to come to him unfettered, unbound. Lord, would you allow us the grace to release our own kids towards you? And for those grown up kids, Lord, that we are still praying for and and and really worried about.

God, I pray that you would allow us the grace of knowing that we did the best we could at the time. When you know better, you're able to do better. Lord God, would you not hold them responsible for any flaws of our parenting, our thinking? Lord, would you draw them to yourself? Would you do what only you can do?

And Lord, would you give us a peace? We need you, Lord, every hour. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you stand with me? We're gonna sing it.

And as a benediction, I pray that the Lord would bless and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and give you peace. And may you be a carrier of the peace of God. In Jesus' name, amen.