LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH
SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2022 am
MATTHEW 18 VERSES 1 – 11
I want us to consider this portion we have read together. As the nights draw in we are reminded again of the change of the seasons from summer to autumn. That brings changes in the work of God here in our church. During the summer we were thinking of the outreach in the car park and the mission, being able to go out around the doors with invites and tracts to show people of their great need of salvation. The greatest work in the church is always the children’s work, to see it prosper, to see children hear the word of God. Sometimes we read a portion of scripture and it goes over our head. Jesus is teaching with his disciples around him. He reaches over and takes up a child in his arms, he then sets the child in the midst of his disciples. I’m sure this was a lesson they wouldn’t forget in a hurry. Children are so important to us. We want to reach them with the word of God. Every child is a sinner and is separated from God. That is the reality today.
First of all the priority that is set forth. This incident is not by sheer accident or coincidence. He wanted his disciples to realise the lesson he was getting across. They were disputing who was the greatest in the kingdom of God. He does not look to the learned person, the great academic or the older man or woman as an example. He lifts a child and wants to teach them the priority of a life won for Christ. Sometimes we can set the elder or pastor on a pedestal and we are underneath them. The problem occurs when they fall and we have no-one to look up to. Jesus rebukes the disciples. When they visited the villages the people came out with their children. The disciples moved in and tried to move them away. They were saying that Jesus has no time for them. Jesus rebuked them and said “suffer the little children to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of God.” One of the most vital works in all the church is the programme of reaching the children for Christ. We do well to do all in our power to reach young children for Christ. In Deuteronomy 6 we read that the Children of Israel were being instructed as they enter into the land of promise. They were taught they must treasure up all that God has done for them. It is good to reflect on all that God has done for us. That is what God was saying to the Children of Israel. You are going into the land of promise, here is what I want you to take with you – take your children and teach them diligently all the laws, commandments I have set forth. I want you to sit down with them and teach them. Teach the next generation. That word must be kept alive. Moses places it first and foremost right into the home. You cannot leave it to the pastor or Sunday School teachers. They must hear it first in the home, words whereby they might be saved. An awful indictment on Moses when we read in Judges 2 “all that generation were gathered unto their fathers.” Joshua and the elders were gone now, the witness was gone. Here is what happened “and there arose another generation after them which knew not the Lord nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” Moses had asked them to keep alive what God had done for them. Look at the land of blessing. Teach your children and your children’s children, tell them what God has done for you, tell them about the blessings of God, don’t let it slip from your mind. Wouldn’t it be awful to just enjoy all the benefits and blessings God has done for us, to pay for my sins, take them on his own body, died on Calvary to pay the price of sin – wouldn’t it be awful to sit back and not tell the next generation what Christ has done for them? That is the reality – if we don’t see our children won for Christ, when they close their eyes in death they would be lost and lost for all eternity. We must make it a priority today. Moses made it clear to them what God had done for them. If God hasn’t take away my sins how can I tell others?
Notice there is the position of the child. In the second verse Jesus calls a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them. This little child came and did as Jesus instructed. There was no opposition to the call of God. We need to tell children while they are still young. Moses on his mothers knee was taught the things of God. Joseph was taught in the things of God. His life was turned upside down but with God’s help he was able to negotiate the trials of life. Children are susceptible at this age. They are not hardened with anything of the world. All we want to do is plant the seed of God’s word in their hearts. He sets the child in their midst. David Livingstone reflected back on his life and thanked God for those who instructed him in the great truths of the word of God, namely his father and mother. Wouldn’t it be an awful indictment if someone could not thank God for his father and mother’s influence? Timothy had a mother and grandmother who taught him the things of God. They were faithful in their instruction. God could have his hand on one child today for some great task and he gives us the responsibility of teaching that child. We need to be careful that we don’t frown on the little children. God has brought them in and he has asked us to proclaim the truths of God. In Jeremiah we read “before I formed thee in the belly I knew you and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (Jeremiah 1 verse 5) God gives him protection. “Be not afraid of their faces for I am with thee to deliver thee saith the Lord.” God had a purpose for Jeremiah. Only eternity will reveal the testimony of our work with children. Daniel was taken and placed in Babylon because God had great things planned for him. Maybe the Lord will take a child from our midst and plant him somewhere because God has a great job for him to do. When Daniel was brought to Babylon the best of the meat from the king was set on the table before him. They recognised something special in these children. As Daniel sat at the table he realised that if he was to take of that food he would defile himself before God because the meat had already been offered to idols. What we are instilling into the hearts and lives of boys and girls, yes it will give them something for later years they will not forget. When the rough and difficult times come they will be able to make up their minds for God. In the house of Naaman God used a maid to bring healing to that great soldier.
The purpose
– to teach the disciples who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven – “except
ye become as a little child.” Until you
become humble in heart you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. You cannot be saved unless you take the Lord
as a little child. You need to accept
what Christ has done on Calvary in simple childlike faith. It is important we recognise the potential
and importance of the child for God. God
has a specific purpose for them. Imagine
the lesson we learn from the maid in Naaman’s house and Daniel in the king’s
palace. Daniel grew up in the wisdom of
God. Joseph at 17 years of age was sold
as a slave down to Egypt. God was
placing him in a position to save a nation in the days to come. Joseph remembered his God. We have the privilege of teaching children
and they will remember that. It is our
prayer that when they come to Sunday School and hear the word of God they will
turn to Christ and will be saved for all eternity.
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