Matthew 18: 3 "Unless you become like little children……

Matthew 18: 3 "Unless you become like little children……."

Mark: 10: 13 - 16

Luke:18: 15 - 17

When I was a child, I had a favourite uncle who seemed to see life as a great opportunity to have fun. He was a great uncle for a little girl to have - always willing to play and do interesting things. He liked reading comics and I knew where he hid his supply of comics. That was always the first place I went to when I visited, to see what new ones he had. At the end of each Christmas Day, he would say, "Well, Christmas is over. Roll on Christmas!"

There are a lot of myths surrounding Christmas. We have to learn to sort out what is true and what is not. There were two little children walking home from Sunday School one day. The story had been about Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. One child said to the other, "What do you think about this devil business? Do you believe in the devil?" "Naah", answered the other, "It's just like Santa Claus. It's your dad."

This is a very appropriate time of year to be celebrating the baptism of a little child.

Christmas is a time for children. It's the time when we think about the birth of a very special baby.

We often hear people say that Christmas doesn't seem the same when the children grow up. Why? Is it because of the children's enthusiastic anticipation and excitement at the family celebrations? Maybe we rely on their excitement to feed our own enthusiasm. Or is it because they seem to appreciate so much any gift we give them and we enjoy their pleasure so much?

We read the Gospels how Jesus accepted children as important to him. He made sure they were brought to him to be blessed. And he really told the disciples off when they tried to send the children away. We still hear people say - not so often these days, perhaps - that "children should be seen and not heard". That was not Jesus' philosophy. Matthew's gospel (in Matthew 19: 13 and 14) says Jesus laid his hands on the children and prayed for them, I believe this would not have been an impersonal, what we might think of as a 'super-spiritual'-type experience. Mark's Gospel says that Jesus put his arms around the children. He gave them a hug! I can imagine that Jesus would have sat down on the ground at the children's level and may have played some games with them, told them some stories, asked them about themselves and their families and really listened to them. He would have made them feel important.

Both Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus said we need to become like children to be able to fully participate in the Kingdom of God - to be able to fully benefit from God's goodness and love for us, - to be able to fully experience a close relationship with God.

I believe it is not lightly that the Bible tells us over and over that we are 'children of God' Those passages which refer to God's people as his children reinforce what Jesus said.

Why does God want us to be like little children in our relationship with him?

I don't believe it means that what we consider to be unacceptable childish behaviour - selfish behaviour - is what Jesus is talking about. That is immaturity which, as we grow and develop in our Christian life, the Holy Spirit gradually removes from our character and replaces with those characteristics which we know as the 'fruit of the Spirit' - (listed in Galatians 5: 22 ) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self discipline. In some of us, the process takes longer than in others! (I've said quite a few times that I believe that is why the Lord made sure I started on that road very early in life - He knew it was going to be a long hard haul!)

So, what are the qualities of children that Jesus meant we should have?

Let's look at some of the qualities of little children:

Curiosity - willingness to learn, experiment -openness to different ideas. It is my belief as an early childhood educator that, along with a natural need for food, rest, shelter, love as people's basic needs for survival, there is also a strong need, especially in the very young, to learn. Unfortunately, as we get older, some of us begin to think we have nothing more to learn, or that we are too old to learn new things. As I have observed the elderly folk in my mum's nursing home, it seems to me that when people stop wanting to learn new things, that is when they start to die.

          I believe God wants us to be open to learn new things in every part of our lives - in our everyday lives and, particularly in
          our spiritual lives. He has put into us an element of curiosity and he wants us to use it. Little children really look at the
          world around them and ask question after question about the things they see and hear. They look to older, more
          experienced people to answer their questions, but they don't close their minds to people their own age.

          That is why God has set up his church with ordinary people in it - so that we can learn from each other. Young Christians
          can learn a lot about our faith from more mature Christians, but the more mature should also be open to learn from the
          new Christians as well. None of us can claim to "know it all", can we?

          In this congregation, we have some Bible Study groups going where we can look at God's word together and through a
          sharing of our understanding and our experiences, we learn from each other. During this past year we've been setting up
          opportunities for small groups of people to support each other in our Christian growth, to learn from each other and to
          nurture each other. Over this coming year we'll be providing more opportunities for this to happen. There is not one
          single person, whether they've been part of this church for many years or whether they're newcomers, who will not
          benefit and learn from these groups if we have that child-like willingness to learn.

show feelings, share feelings openly. Little children do not try to hide their feelings. When they're angry or frustrated, boy, do we know about it! When they're excited or joyful, we can see it as plain as anything in their behaviour. They show it physically.

          We've all seen children jumping up and down in excitement or joy. Why don't we see adults do that? (Actually, we do
          see it at football matches) Why not at other times? Especially within our church fellowship, it's good when we can show
          others how we are feeling and share both our down times and our up times.

          We've learned more acceptable ways of expressing our feelings of anger than throwing ourselves on the floor, kicking our
          heels and screaming! Sometimes, that's what I'd like to do! But when we share feelings with each other then we can all
          support each other better.

          Now. I'm not suggesting we all go around broadcasting our woes to all and sundry. But let's use the prayer triplets, small
          task groups, study groups or any other small groups we may belong to within our fellowship. If you think you're not in
          one of those small groups, go and talk to Gloria or Corale.

(By the way, we also need to be able to accept the feelings of others and learn to listen without criticising or condemning)

dependent on those with more power, ability and strength. They do know their limits, and when allowed to act naturally, don't usually go past their limits. As Christians, we need to know our limits too. We need to be willing to be dependent on God for our strength and power.

           Often we try to do everything in our own strength, even when we know, deep down, that our own strength isn't enough
           for us to cope. We try to make our own decisions without bothering to find out what God wants us to do. (Sometimes,
           when things go wrong for us, it's then we blame him, forgetting that we made the decisions ourselves without him)

           If we ever doubt whether God is strong and powerful enough for us to be dependent on, just read in the Bible about
           some of the things he did for his people, such as the familiar ones of parting the waters of the Red Sea to let the Israelites
           go through safely. Is that powerful enough? What about the times he gave his prophets and the disciples in the New
           Testament the power to heal? What about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead? What about defeating death himself?
           How much power do we need on our side? Talk with other Christians and find out from them what God is doing in
           their lives today.

           In Philippians 4: 13, Paul said (NEB) "I have strength for anything through him who gives me power." That
           access to power is not limited to the people of the Old and New Testaments. It's available to us when we learn to be
           dependent on God and to accept it from him.

trusting:

           very young babies - complete trust. If it has a face, it's OK.
           Slightly older - trust the familiar absolutely, wary of the unfamiliar, begin to discriminate. e.g. When my son, Peter was a
           toddler, he and his Dad played a game where Peter would run from the front door to the end of the veranda and throw
           himself off it so that his Dad would catch him in his arms. It never occurred to the toddler that his Dad wouldn't catch
           him. He had no fear in that situation.

           We need to be able to trust God, as a little child trusts its parents. Sometimes, sadly, the parents are not worthy of the
           little child's trust. But we know that God is to be trusted. He has proved it time and time again. We can read about many
           times in the Bible when God showed that, when he makes a promise, he keeps it.

           We can also read and hear modern day stories about people's experience of a God who does marvellous things and
           who still keeps his promises today. Hebrews 11: 1 tells us that "Faith (or trust in God) gives assurance to our
           hopes, and makes us certain of realities we do not see" A saying attributed to Mark Twain says: "Faith is believing
           what you know ain't so"

forgiving: can be hurt one minute and it's forgotten the next. E.g. Rachael - one day I scolded her for biting Megan. She was hurt that her grandma could be cross with her, so she decided she wouldn't talk to me any more - wouldn't even say "Goodbye" when I left. But what happened the next time I visited? She'd forgotten all about it.

          A number of times at kindergarten I found children fighting over a toy - really serious stuff! We had a little routine we
          taught them for those times. To the one who was trying to take the toy, we'd say, "No, xxx isn't finished with it yet. You
          can have a turn as soon as xxx's finished." Then we'd say to the one who had the toy, "Are you finished your turn yet?"
          Sometimes they'd say "Yes" straight away and hand it over. (This same child who'd been fighting tooth and claw to keep
          it a minute ago!) Sometimes they'd say "No" and play with it a little longer. But it was surprising how quickly the toy
          would be passed on. Often both children would play with it happily together - all quarrels forgotten. Most adults would
          not react like that. We'd be more likely to hold onto our toy for longer, I think.

          Jesus spoke often about forgiving others. He included in the Lord's Prayer.: Matthew 6: 12 - 15 says: "Forgive us our
          debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" And then he went on to say: "For if you forgive men when they sin
          against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father
          will not forgive your sins."

          Remember when Peter asked him how many times he should forgive someone and thought he was being really generous
          in suggesting 7 times? What did Jesus say? No, seventy times seven. My maths is not really good enough to know
          how many times that is, but I do know it's a lot! I suspect that, by the time I got to 70x7, forgiveness would be a well
          learned habit! That story is in Matthew 18: 21,22

         Again in Luke 17: 3,4, we read of Jesus saying something similar: "So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke
         him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back
         to you and says "I repent", forgive him."

In Mark 11: 25, we read that Jesus said: "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone,
forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins".

Willingness to accept gifts. This comes back to Christmas! How many children do you know said, "No thank you" to the gifts that were offered to them this Christmas?

          Peter and his family had lots of 'present opening' times at different homes on Christmas Day. They first went to his sister,
          Liz's , then to the family dinner at the other grandparents' home, then called in at the nursing home to see great grandma,
          then finished up at our home in the evening. Everywhere there were presents. You might think that by the time 2 and a
          half year old Alex got to our place, she'd have been all presented-out! But, no!. She was tired, but really came to life at
          the prospect of opening more presents. She didn't knock any presents back. She didn't say, "Look, I'm a bit tired
          tonight. I'll keep those till another time". She ripped the paper off and opened them as if they were the only ones she'd
          seen all day. Then, what did she do? She tried them all out. She used them.

God has a gift he offers to each one of us. He has paid a very high price for it.

          He is there with his 'hands' outstretched, offering it to us. I wonder how many are here this morning who have never held
          out their hands and accepted God's gift? I wonder how many have said, "Yes, I know God offers me a free gift of
          salvation - the chance to have all my wrongdoing forgiven and forgotten by God, the chance to be able to have a close
          personal friendship with him, to be able to draw on his strength when I feel week, his comfort when I hurt, his wisdom
          when I'm not sure where to turn next. But, really, I'm not quite ready to take that gift just yet. Maybe some other time."

          How would you feel if you had paid a high price - maybe gone without something yourself - to get a special gift for
          someone you love very much… and that person said to you, "I don't want it", or "I'm not ready to accept your gift right
          now - maybe some other time"?

We've just come through Christmas, a time when we think about God's gift of Jesus Christ, and today, we've celebrated a baptism. We've acknowledged that God is offering to little Michael his free gift of forgiveness and friendship. He offers that same gift to each one of us . What are we going to do about it? I wonder how many here today are going to say, "No, thank you" and just walk away, leaving him with your free gift in his outstretched hands? Or are we all going to accept that gift with gratitude and praise?

Let's pause for a moment and think quietly about the gift that God offers to us .

<pause>

Prayer. Thanks for Jesus. For the gift. For making it available freely to those who are willing to accept it.