Scattered throughout the Bible, there are many references to children. Some of those references - just factual statements - they might appear in a genealogy - some just simply provide additional information for an account that was being explained - a story of some kind - but there are also references to children, in the Bible, that are there for our instruction. I don’t know what it would have been like, exactly, to be there on hand and see what Christ did when the Pharisees came to Him one time, and challenged Him - tempted Him, as the Bible puts it - trying to trap him into an argument - and Christ’s reaction was to simply call forward a child - a small child - and have the child stand in the middle of them, and then, of course, He gave them a lesson, based on that. It must have quite profound to those present - dealing with Christ, and having Christ respond in such a way.
You know, the subject of what is a child is a very instructive subject. To refer to a child means a whole lot more than simply defining a time frame - a point in their physical life, or just how old they are. So today, we’re going to spend a little time considering childhood, but we’re going to do it from one specific viewpoint. And that is from the viewpoint of relationships - relationships. If you’ll turn over to Deuteronomy, chapter 14 - first couple of verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 14:
Dt. 14:1-2 - God is talking to Israel. He explains to them that they are a holy people under Him, that He’s chosen them to be a peculiar people above all the nations that are on the earth. But in verse 1, a very interesting statement is made in terms of a relationship. You are the children of the LORD your God. This is more than just simply making a statement that I’m a father - your Father - and you’re a child - or you’re My child. It’s much more than that. Being the children of God provides us with information about how we are to be as people in our relationship with God.
I’d like to structure, if you will, a context in which I want to discuss the relationship of children - or a child relationship. If you come to Mark, chapter 10, we’re going to allow Mark, chapter 10, to provide a framework for us to discuss this. And I hope, as we proceed, you’ll see that what is listed here - at least through half to two-thirds of the chapter - is probably a great deal more than coincidence that these have been put into the Bible in the manner, and in the order, that we will find them here. There are three specific things, that I want to draw your attention to, that will serve as the framework.
Firstly - from say verse 1 to verse 12, even though there is a discussion that has been provoked by the Pharisees - again, another situation where they’re trying to trap Christ - Christ took the opportunity to make some very pertinent points about the relationship of marriage - very direct, very straight forward - right down the line - about the creation of male and female becoming one flesh and "whatever God has joined together, let not man put asunder." And so He then discusses the sanctity of that relationship, and says that divorce should not be a factor. He didn’t get into some of the other areas. He’s just simply pointing to the sanctity of marriage.
Then, the next section we find is verse 13 through 16. We’re familiar with this because this is a tradition in the Church, where Christ took a child and taught something based on that child, and then went ahead and laid His hands on the child, and blessed the child.
Then, the very next thing we’re led into is a young man, who, as it is portrayed here, does not come in a bad attitude towards Christ, or towards God - God’s way of life. He came to Christ, and he fully felt that he was in a particular position, and so could make a certain request of Christ. And then Christ used that situation to teach something.
Now, these three things, to me, form a kind of a circle. Now, let’s not overstate it, but it’s a kind of a circle, and one follows the other, and they keep following each other around. You start off with marriage, which leads to children, which leads to the way that that child lives, as that child grows older, leading into marriage, leading into children. And so the cycle continues. And I just don’t believe that it’s accident that these things are listed the way that they are.
We enter the circle - as I said, this is a framework - and so we’re going to enter the circle, this afternoon, with marriage. Because any discussion of children requires the context of a marriage. Children are the product of a relationship. That relationship is simply called marriage. And it would be very inappropriate to discuss children outside of that particular context. To support this circle, there are two principles that we will intertwine throughout these three areas as we proceed. They’re are two overriding principles - two very important principles - that govern the basis of the relationship that we’re going to be talking about here today. And I will be confining it to just what we’re seeing here, and it could be expanded - that’s what I mean by that. It doesn’t have to be restricted to this, but these two principles support what we’re going to discuss here today. Without these principles, we would have some very serious problems with these relationships.
What are these principles? We see them in Matthew, chapter 22, and in verse 36.
Mt. 22:36 - Here again, we find a situation where they were trying to tempt Christ. It says in verse 35. And they asked, Master, which is the great commandment in the law. And Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment - the first principle. It’s a commandment. I’m just using the word principle, because it is, indeed, a principle - to love God totally and completely. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And on these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets.
I’ve been thinking about some of this recently, and in particular, the second point - what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. And I just wonder, in my own thought process, just how possible it is for a 20th century mind to process this information fully - to process it as God meant it? There’s so much going on in our society around about us, that we’re all involved with, whether we want to be or not, that affects our minds and our thinking. And I really do feel, in looking at the Church of God, as we stand in this particular point and time, a great deal more thinking needs to be given to some of these things on our behalf - and not just read over these because we’ve read over them ever since we first went into Sunday school, or whatever it was when we first heard these. You all know these two principles extremely well. But what I want to focus on today is just how much are they a part of what we are as people. The very nature of these two laws is very difficult for the human mind to assimilate them - to love God - a spirit being, a unseen being - with all of your heart, with all of your heart and mind and being. Now, it rolls off the tongue fine, but to achieve that.... And to love another human being as yourself.... Again, that rolls off the tongue so easily, but it is so difficult, in reality, to achieve. And because it’s difficult, maybe sometimes, we give credence to these principles, but sort of move them off to the side a little bit because they do present a difficulty for us.
Now, our context for these two principles begins with the marriage relationship. And the basis for this relationship - the basis for marriage - begins very early in a person’s life. We’ll come to that concept of a child, again, and why Christ might have used a child. Let’s go back to Deuteronomy now - chapter 6. We could spend a considerable amount of time with this chapter, because looking at it carefully and slowly, there’s an awful lot to be said, but let’s just pick up some of the highlights.
Dt. 6: - In chapter 6 of Deuteronomy, God is addressing the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land that you go to possess. God says that He wanted them to fear Him, and He wanted them keep His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life - a generational approach to the teaching of the law of God.
V-4 - Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one Lord.
V-5 - You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all of your might - the very first principle here stated. But it’s interesting - we’re talking about the context - we go right on, after having said that, to talk about children. And these words which I command you this day shall be in your heart, and you shall teach them diligently unto your children. You are to take this principle, inculcate it into your being - into what you are, but then you are to be passing on to children, so that children can be, at a very early age, developing a relationship of complete and total dedication to God. It’s the way this reads here. And it says "whether you’re sitting in your house, you’re walking, you’re lying down" - at every opportunity. It’s a way of being that is being described here. And these instructions are to be intertwined - whether we call them instructions, commandments - are to be intertwined into every day of a person’s life - every day! This is a way of life. This is a way of thinking. It is a way of understanding. It’s such that when anything comes up in a person’s life, in the course of a day, that thing is viewed through a certain prism. And this is the prism: a total love of God - a total seeking of the mind of God, and the will of God, as to how that particular situation might be addressed. And this is built into a child. Yes, for adults, obviously, but it’s built into a child.
Now, just take a look at verse 11, for example, and give that some thought
V- 11 - Now, God says that once you go into the land, you’ve got to remember certain things, and He says, I...houses full of all good things, but you didn’t fill them, wells that you didn’t dig, vineyards, olive trees, which you didn’t plant. Translate that into our lives - the physical things that we have. Okay, we don’t have wells, I suppose. We don’t have olive plants and vineyards. That’s not the point. But we have many things that are our’s - that we possess, that we own, that we enjoy having - and God said, "They came from Me." It’s a total understanding of everything we have comes from God. And that is being built into the child. As I said, "I can’t read every word here," but come on down to verse 20.
V-20 - It says, And when your son asks you, in time to come - now the margin says, "tomorrow." Somewhere down the line your children are going to ask why you’re doing what you’re doing. Why do we do this as a family? What is the purpose for this? And then you are to go on and teach. When the child says, "Well, what means the testimony, the statutes, the judgment, which God has commanded us? Why are we doing it? Not just that we have to do it, but why?" And God says, "Then you sit your son, your daughter - your child - down, and you build into that child’s mind an understanding of why, and in particular verse 24 says:
V-24 - ...for our good always. Teaching that child to have a dependency upon God - a relationship with God, an loving understanding - realizing that these things are given for good - why they are given, what they are supposed to generate in a person’s mind and thinking. And then this principle - this first principle we’re talking about - of loving God with our whole heart - sets the stage for all of the other directions that God gives to regulate His way of life. If you start at this point, where a child has that kind of love of God, it’s not a matter of do’s and don’ts, it’s a matter of seeking and wanting to know what God wants us to do. It’s a very different attitude than just simply, "Well, tell me what I have to do. What do I have to do to please God?" It’s a different attitude to say, "What can I do to please God? What should I be doing?"
V-29 - That attitude kind of comes across a little bit, where it says - God says - Oh, that there was such a heart in them that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always - not that He wanted to just press it upon them - something they had to do. But He wanted them to have a heart that would seek Him - love Him fully and totally. ...that it might be well with them, and with their children, forever.
Prov. 23:19 - Similar expression - similar type of emotion. It says, Hear you, my Son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.
When is the individual to hear? and to be wise? and to begin to understand? When he’s a son. When he’s a child - beginning to perceive what a relationship with God means. And be not among wine bibbers, among riotess eaters of flesh, for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty - certain cause and effects that young people need to learn early on. Hearken unto your father that begat you, and despise not your mother when she’s old. And this marriage relationship produces - particularly if these two principles are involved in this relationship - produces an environment - produces a cocoon - in which this kind of a child emerges - a child that is hearkening to the father and the mother, and listening to them, and loving them. Buy the truth, and sell it not. "Buy the truth" means, I would assume, going out and seeking it in some fashion - not just simply sitting there, and saying, "What have I got to do to please Dad? to please Mom? Buy the truth, sell it not, also, wisdom, instruction and understanding. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begats a wise child shall have joy of him, and the father and your mother shall be glad. She that bare you shall rejoice. My son, give me your heart. Now, I do believe that Jesus Christ started where He did, by addressing the sanctity of marriage, because it is that relationship that produces a child that will give the father - and, of course, you can take this physically and spiritually - the heart! That’s what we, as physical parents, want. We want that kind of relationship with our children. We want them to love us as we love them, and to reciprocate and respond with the emotion and the love, going back and forwards. Well, God is the same. My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways. But then it warns us here, in verse 27, that it may not go that way - that there are going to be some difficulties and traps, perhaps, along this way of life.
V-27 - For a whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also lies in wait for a prey, and increases the transgressors among men. Children have to be prepared for marriage. They have to be prepared. And the first principle does that by a full-hearted love towards God. By loving God, as a way of life, children learn the true purpose of marriage. And they begin to learn that there are things along this way of life that may take away from that marriage relationship, should they allow themselves to participate in it. There are traps out there. This is not God’s world. Satan is the God of this world, and he puts little trap doors along the way to try and trap people. It’s what the warning here is. But children, if they love God - if they’ve given their heart - learn the true purpose of marriage. And I think that’s important. Mr. Armstrong used to emphasize it a great deal. I don’t know that I’ve heard too much emphasis on the true purpose of marriage in recent times. Again, it’s one those things that we will regenerate, and will, certainly, bring back to the forefront of our minds, because it is so important. But in terms of this marriage relationship, in terms of the child, it begins very young - that they do appreciate the sanctity of marriage. And it begins with simple, physical principles. Remember, we’re dealing with a child. Let’s look, for example, at Leviticus 18.
I do not want to spend a lot of time in Leviticus 18 - the whole chapter deals with sexual relationships that are representative of what we’ve just read there in Proverbs - a deep ditch - you know, a real problem. It tells all of the different relationships - sexual relationships that are to be avoided. It doesn’t mention adultery, because that has already been mentioned. It’s one of the prime commandments. This is additional to. But I want to come on down to verse 24, where the overall attitude behind these prohibitions are given, and let’s look at these as these simple, physical principles that children learn very early on.
Lev. 18:24 - Defile not you yourselves in any of these things. Remember, we’re talking about love towards God and loving our neighbor as two important principles. If this action - or these actions - are actions of defilement, then both of those principles are threatened. And a child has to learn that very, very early on. For in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you. And our children, today, walk in a defiled world - just to use the terminology that is here - the nations that we walk out in the midst of. The land is defiled, therefore do I visit thereof upon it. The land itself vomits out her inhabitants. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments. You shall not commit any of these abominations, neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourns among you. And these are principles that a child learns. And as the child grows, these physical principles and points develop into spiritual understanding of their own personal relationship with God. And that you understand exactly what I’m talking about - you’re already there - I Corinthians 6.
I Cor. 6:13 - Maybe I’ll begin with verse 20, and then back up a little bit, because here we see very much a spiritual principle.
V-20 - You are bought with a price, and therefore the instruction is to glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. Now this is a relationship of an individual with God, but what is the subject matter here? How did this person get to this point of glorifying God? or understanding what it means? Well, back up to verse 13.
V-13 - Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Now how does a person grow to this point of understanding - of relating a sexual matter with a relationship with God? They got it by being taught, as a child, some of the basic principles and points about what it is to be prepared for a marriage relationship, and what you are expected to take into that marriage relationship. And so as they grow, they come to see that sex is not a subject completely devoid of the relationship an individual has with God. God has both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. Know you not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid. What? Know you not that he which is joined to a harlot is one body? For two, says he, shall be one flesh. And this is where Christ introduced, in Mark chapter 10, the principles of the sanctity of marriage - extremely important. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is without the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body. What? Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you? which you have of God. And you are not your own. This is the fulfillment of loving God with all of your heart. Because you come to see this relationship aspect with God, and so there are certain things that you are taught and trained, as a child, to avoid so that this relationship can be special and close - a very close bond with God. This way of life prepares a young person to be modest, to be moral, and to be chaste in the way that they conduct themselves.
Now, I pause, because when I wrote those words down - I just simply pulled them out of my own head - I wrote down the word "chaste" and I stopped and thought, "I wonder how many young children will even understand what that word means?" It’s not a very common word today. It’s a word we don’t use in our vocabulary a great deal. But this is a way of life. This, simultaneously, translates into fulfillment of the second principle that we’ve been talking about - of love towards neighbor. These two, obviously - I’m trying to separate them for the point of discussion - but the two just go hand in hand. If there’s going to love towards God - and that is full in a person’s heart - it’s going to flow out to love towards neighbor. But any behavior that takes away from the marriage relationship is behavior against another person! That can be behavior before marriage, or during marriage. And it is against another person - and in most cases, other people - it goes beyond just one - not just the mate. It’ll involve the children and it’ll involve...you know, it just snowballs beyond that. But you teach a child at a very young age these two principles so that they conduct themselves in a way that not only develops this relationship with God, but teaches them how to love their neighbor. And this is extremely important.
You see, there’s a major fallacy that exists in our society today. It has been developed for the last 20 or 30 years. It’s out there in so many unspoken forms, but it’s there nonetheless. And it goes something along the lines of "that whatever you do, so long as it doesn’t affect somebody else, it’s okay. We’re not going to judge you. We’re not going to condemn you. Whatever you want to do, that’s fine, so long" - this is the one thing that they underline - "so long as it doesn’t affect somebody else." Now, I said it’s a fallacy. It’s an absolute fallacy. Look at Proverbs chapter 6. We’ll pick it up in verse 23.
Prov. 6:23 - ...where we are told that the commandment is a lamp and the law is light - a way of life. ...and reproofs of instruction - well, here it is - the way of life. ...to keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Now, it’s very easy to go from this point directly over to Revelation 18, and tie it in completely, in a spiritual sense, with Babylon - with the whore, and so on. And it does. It does tie in on that level. It also applies on the physical level. Lust not after her beauty in your heart, neither let her take you with her eyelids. Anything that is going to draw you away from a full-hearted love of God fits into these categories that we’re talking about here, whether it be just straight physical sexual application, or whether it be an application of societal conditions, or whatever. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulterers will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? It’s a question. Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned? So that he that goes into his neighbor’s wife, whosoever touches her shall not be innocent. Now it’s interesting, because the instruction goes on to talk about a thief - somebody who has stolen something. Maybe he’s hungry, as it says here, so he’s stolen something. And if he’s found, then he can restore sevenfold, and he shall give all the substance of his house. So the person that had the goods stolen, it works out, probably, better for him in the long run. He’s restored sevenfold over, and it’s been a penalty the individual, and everybody goes on about their merry way. A lesson has been learned and everything’s find. But whoso commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding. And what is the understanding he lacks? The understanding that Jesus Christ gave in a number of places, but in Mark chapter 10 that we’ve already referred to - that you take one man and one woman and they become one flesh. Now, is Christ only talking about the sexual union? Absolutely not! He is talking about what takes place in the human mind through the act of sex. And this is how the two become one. It’s not just a physical union. It’s a spiritual mental union. Something happens to the human mind! That’s the way God designed it in sex. And this is understanding the purpose of marriage. This is why Christ said what He said about divorce, and why it is so problematic. Whosoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding. He that does it destroys his own soul. And so a person can think, "Well, it doesn’t affect anybody else. It’s only me. I’ve just gone off on the side here to commit adultery, or whatever it is." It doesn’t work that way! If it has affected the mind of that individual, as he comes back into the relationship, it will then affect the other mate, and then it will affect the children, and it will affect other people, and that is not loving your neighbor as yourself. And it’s fascinating where we’re at as a society in this regard.
About three, four weeks ago, Newsweek magazine ran a feature article - you remember, of course, the cover - the large black print - ADULTERY - was a whole section on adultery, and it’s all come about because of the advisor to President Clinton and what he’d been up to, or been caught being up to. The next week was what was interesting. This is the letter section of the following issue of Newsweek, and here’s a couple I found just absolutely fascinating to illustrate a mentality. "Having an affair is the best thing that happened to me during my ten year marriage. I am intimately involved with a colleague, and I must say I think even the company gains from our relationship." He goes on to spell out all the things that they do at work, and how great it is, and so on and so forth. They’re still married. They’ve got mates, but this is an adulterous relationship at work. And it’s the best thing that has ever happened. The next letter: "I was insulted by the snide remark that ‘women are unlikely to run into their husbands prostitutes at a PTA meeting.’ I have worked in middle class prostitution for 18 years, and lead a mainstream life." The mentality. "...a mainstream life. So do most of the hundreds of middle class prostitutes I’ve known. Our children sit in classrooms with the children of our middle class clients. We shop at the same supermarkets as their wives. We go to Little League games, community events, and yes, PTA meetings. We are a part of the fabric of middle class suburban life." Talking about their clients, "We admire them because they do not walk out on their families." And this is a concluding sentence, "I think men like Dick Morris and my clients deserve more credit for upholding family values." I just choose that as a representative example of the attitude that’s out there. No big deal. And, of course, the sad point is that it would be possible to have a similar sort of discussion within the framework of the Church of God - some people who feel that it is no big deal.
The marriage relationship is strengthened by fidelity. And that is taught to a child - a young child. And that child is nurtured, it is cared for and it is prepared for its future role in marriage. And then, as that child enters into marriage, it then builds a cocoon for the next generation of children to come along. As we read in Deuteronomy 6, you teach your son and then your son’s son, and this thing snowballs, then, in a positive way - the teaching of these principles of loving God and loving our neighbor.
I have to think about the child that Jesus Christ sat in front of them. You know, we all know lots of children. We all know lots of different types of children. What did Christ take and put in front of them? One of the brats of the day? I don’t think so. That’s why Christ, I believe, discussed marriage before He brought the child forward, and put into their midst, and told them to look at that.
If you choose to bring a child into this world - and I say this quite seriously to those of you who are contemplating marriage, or those of you who are young married and don’t yet have children - if you choose to bring a child into the world, you automatically have a commitment to your neighbor. You automatically have a commitment to your neighbor - if you want to call it community, whatever. And that commitment is to raise that child in such a way that his or her behavior adds to the community, adds to the quality of life for the neighbors, adds to the people that they will come into contact with, as they grow and develop. As parents, we have a moral responsibility towards others. And that is part of having children.
Prov. 19:26 - He that wastes his father, and chases away his mother is a son that causes shame and brings reproach. This is not either love towards God or love towards neighbor. Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causes to err from the words of knowledge. An ungodly witness scorns judgment, and the mouth of the wicked devour iniquity. Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools. And we have an obligation, as God’s people, to take the admonitions that God has given us, and to work with our children, and to teach and train our children in the manner that He has prescribed.
Let’s come back to Mark chapter 10.
Mk. 10:13 - After Christ had underlined the importance of marriage - the sanctity of marriage - then they began to bring young children to Him - verse 13 - that He should touch them. His disciples rebuked them, but he was displeased and said, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. And verily, I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Thinking of children - and looking at that little child that had been brought to Jesus Christ - leads you to think about relationships, because at the heart of what Christ is saying here is the relationship between us and God - an individual and God. We must be actively developing both principles in our lives - both principles. Because then Christ went on - or it is recorded in this order - to give an example of somebody that was not raised with both principles in place. This individual believed that he had one of the principles in place. He may have thought that he had both, but in reality he was not living either principle.
V-17 - When he was gone forth in the way - verse 17 - there came one running and kneeling to him, and asked him, Good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life. Now I don’t think that this individual was in a bad attitude. Now I have one particular book - it’s an older book at home, but it’s a commentary on this particular instance - and they simply refer to this individual as "amiable unbeliever" - an amiable unbeliever. And it got me to wondering, "How many amiable unbelievers are we raising as children?" You know, nice, but just don’t quite get the point as far as what it is to have a relationship with God, or to love neighbor. And Jesus said unto him, Why do you call me good? There is none good, but one. That is God. You know the commandments.... And then He lists these commandments. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these I have observed from my youth. "I’ve done all these things." And they’re basically all those that deal with loving neighbor. And Jesus beholding him, loved him, said unto him, One thing you lack. Go your way. Sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross and follow me. Love God. Put God first with all of your heart, with all of your soul and all of your mind. And he was very sad, for he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions.
It’s interesting that social observers - many of them - are saying today, in various ways, that childhood has essentially been eliminated in our western societies. For example, the name Neil Postman will be familiar to you. I believe Mr. Hulme used some of his material in a broadcast some years ago. He wrote a book that was published in 1982 entitled, The Disappearance of Childhood. That book was reissued in 1994 and he wrote a new introduction to the ‘94 book, and he said, "I will stand by the theme of the book, ‘American culture is hostile to the idea of childhood.’" Another name that will probably be familiar to you is Marie Winn. She wrote a book entitled, Children Without Childhood. In her introduction, she said, "Something has happened to blur the formally distinct boundaries between childhood and adulthood. Now, I just turned around from where I was sitting at my desk, and just pulled those two books off the shelf. I could have spent time and found a lot more quotes that would say exactly the same thing - that there is a major problem with childhood in this country and in our western societies. And I got to thinking, "Do you think that there would be any correlation between the disruption of normal childhood and the fact that God wants us to look children how we should be?" If you were Satan, and you understood the importance of that childlike quality - because without it, you’re not going to enter the Kingdom of Heaven - wouldn’t you do whatever you could to disrupt, destroy and distort the quality of being a child? so that this generation, in particular - as we focus on the Kingdom of God - look at these things, and we look at the children, and you’re going to get a distorted view. I only offer that as a thought - as an observation - but it doesn’t phase me, in that sense, to think that Satan would do something like that.
If we can embrace these two principles that I am talking about, we will become childlike in relation to our Father. It is possible for us in this day and age - when, as I say, childhood has, essentially, been eliminated. Look at Matthew 18, verse 1.
Mt. 18:1 - The disciples came to Christ, and they wanted to know who was going to be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. So Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said - and this is a very powerful statement - Verily, I say unto you, except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
That is a strong statement. You will become childlike - and He equates conversion - an attitude of mind that He referred to as being converted - with that of being a little child. And unless we have that, we will not be in the Kingdom. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receives me. We are the children being prepared for marriage. We’re the little children and we’re being prepared for a marriage that is made in heaven - true marriage - a marriage to Jesus Christ. And as little children, we are being prepared for that relationship.
Let’s go back to Isaiah, chapter 63. I’m still receiving letters from those who attended - or some who attended the Feast - in the Poconos. Fortunately, they are quite supportive of the position that I took during the Feast. And the position I took during the Feast was that this is the book of Isaiah (long "i"). (Laughter) And it got to be quite a battle. But I won! And I’m still winning. It’s Isaiah (long "i").
Isa. 63:15 - Look down from heaven, and behold, from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory. Now here is the Father, looking down at the children. Where is your zeal and your strength? or the multitude of your emotions - this talks about - and of your mercies toward me. Are they restrained? Doubtless, you are our Father. Even though Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledges us not, you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer. Your name is from everlasting.
That interesting little word in there, "redeemer," makes it possible - makes it possible - for you and I to take these principles that we’re talking about, and make them a part of our being, even though it is so difficult, in this day and age, to do so. It is possible. We have a Father. We are His children. And through Jesus Christ, we are able to do the things that are necessary to build a full-hearted love of God into our being, and to love our neighbor as ourself. We can do it, and Jesus Christ said, as we’ve just read, we will do it, if we wish to be in the Kingdom of Heaven. O LORD, why have you made us to err from your ways, and harden our heart from your fear? Return, for your servants sake, the tribes of your inheritance. And we do live in an age when the heart is very hard, and very brittle from what is going on around us. The people of your holiness have possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down by the sanctuary. We are your’s. You never bear rule over them, and they were not called by your name. We live at a time when childlike qualities are under incredible attack. But Jesus Christ’s example of bringing that child into the center, and drawing attention to him, means that we don’t just simply go by social reflection. We just don’t simply look at what we see around us today. But through being redeemed and the Holy Spirit of God, we can become childlike, and we can build those qualities - those principles - into our lives.
To understand what it is to become as a little child, we must turn, with an open heart to the Word of God. We must do that.
Isa. 64: 8 - It says, But now, O LORD, you are our Father, and we are the clay, and you are our potter, and we all are the work of your hands. That’s an analogy you’ve heard many, many times over. But put it into this context of a father-child relationship. And if that child is loving the father with all of their heart, and all of their mind, then that clay is so malleable - that clay is so responsive - to the direction of the father, as we read about from Proverbs. And we are the clay, but that clay - "clayness," if I can put it that way - has got to be translated into a love of God - a full and complete and total love of God.
Hos. 11:1 - It says that when Israel was a child, then I loved him, called my son out of Egypt - again, that childlikeness, or that relationship of a child to a father - as they call them, so they went from them. And they sacrificed to Balaam, and burned incense to graven images. I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms. But they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, and with bands of love, and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. And of course, the point of saying this is that they didn’t appreciate that relationship. Conversion - that Jesus Christ introduced the concept of - conversion - that childlikeness of mind - allows us to respond to the healing. It says, They knew not that I healed them. We know, through the Spirit of God, that God is healing us, and as little children, we respond to the cords, and to the bands, because they are cords and bands of love! Remember Deuteronomy 6? "For your good." Everything that God does for His children is for their good - not for their hurt, but for their good. And that childlike mind responds to that and looks for that kind of leadership - the band, or the cords.
Now this leads me to underscore something that is an essential quality in children, and something that I feel we need to develop. In love, God draws, providing the needs as He shapes the clay. And what should our response be to this?
Isa. 30:1 - We’re coming to what I believe to be the heart of the matter of being a child - of being like a child. In Isaiah 30 and in verse 1, Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, that takes counsel, but not of me, that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin, that walked to go down into Egypt, and have not asked of my mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt.
V-3 - Therefore, shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt, your confusion. The issue here is trust. And it’s based, of course, on that first principle we’ve talked about - of loving God with all of your heart. They’re not loving God with all of their heart. They’re turning aside. And Egypt is symbolic of the society in which we live. And it’s turning aside to something other than God and putting strength in that. It says that they have taken counsel. It says that they are covered with a covering. In other words, it’s actions - there are activities - they’re doing things, but their trust is not in God. Remember the young man that we read about with the riches? His trust was not in God. His trust was in the riches that he had.
One of the most outstanding characteristics of a young child is their simple trust of their parents. Anybody that has had a young child, I think, can attest to that - the simple trust and the confidence that they have in their parents. The young man, in Mark chapter 10, had to trust in his possessions, and he could not transfer that trust from his possessions to God. It stayed with his possessions.
You know, just a week or so before the Feast, I was having some work done on my car. And I was sitting in a waiting room of the place where the work was being done. I’ve learned, by experience, that it’s best to stay in the waiting room wherever the work is being done on your car. It’s even better if that waiting room has glass windows, so you can see your car - the work that is being done on it. Twice - just a couple of weeks apart - right before the Feast, I took the car in to get a smog check. And so I walked outside to sit in the sun, and wait. And I gave them about 20 minutes, and I walked back in - I think you all know what happens in a smog check, right? - my car was up on a hoist, they’re underneath it with spanners and wrenches, and they’re pulling something out of the motor! Some smog check! Two weeks later I took the car in for a wheel alignment, and I looked out the window, and it was getting a smog check. Now, it’s probably my pronunciation of words that is the problem.... But I was reading US News and World Report this particular day, and two sentences leapt out at me. I jumped up, and I grabbed a pen, and wrote them down. The national survey of college freshmen was the issue in US News and World Report, and it made two statements: "Students now have a post-modern sensibility - distrustful of reason, authority, facts, objectivity - all values not generated by the self." That is an incredible statement! Distrustful.... Now this is not saying that the colleges have drummed this into them. These are freshman. They are entering college now with this distrust. "Distrust of anything not generated by self." "As children of post-modernity, they seem implicitly to distrust anything that purports to be a source of knowledge and authority." Now what is a source of knowledge and authority? Well, one, a parent. Two, the Word of God, as expounded by the ministers of God. And it’s been built into the mind of people today to distrust this. And I think many of us, in the Church of God, have wrestled with some of these things ourselves - this issue of trust.
But maybe there is some confusion over the object of our trust. We are to become like children. And children trust. Well, let’s look at Psalm 118. Psalm 118 provides some pretty good justification, here, for not trusting.
Ps. 118:8 - It says, It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. Now there’s a line of reasoning that I hear on a fairly regular basis. I heard it during the Feast in various places - various conversations. I can’t put it down word for word because everybody’s got a different variation on it. But it’s something along the lines, "Well, I trust God, but I’m not going to trust any other man from this point on." And this is based on our experience of the past few years. "I’m just not going to trust a man again. But I trust God. I’m just not going to let anyone hurt me again." Now, when you look at verses such as we just read, there seems to be a reasonably credible line of reasoning. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. And we all know that there are authorities and people that have abused their position. And it’s very difficult to trust them. But let us come back to those two principles that we’ve been talking about - love towards God and love towards neighbor. The first always anchors the second. They do stay together. But let’s come over to II Corinthians chapter 10 - all the while keeping in mind that God wants us to develop this attitude of mind of being a little child - and the question is asked by the Apostle Paul:
II Cor. 10:7 - Do you look on things after the outward appearance? And I think that’s a fair question. And I think that’s a question that we need to answer for ourselves in this area of trust, or lack of trust. Do you look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trusts to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s. "Now I trust God, but I’m not going to trust you" - a man, woman, somebody in a position, somebody in authority - could be a minister, could be a policeman, it could be anything. "I trust me. I trust my judgment. I trust God, but I don’t trust you." Look at Paul’s line of reasoning. I think Paul is giving an absolutely fascinating insight here to this issue of trust. He says, "If you trust to yourself that you are Christ’s - that you trust God - you have a relationship with God - it’s between you and God - then take this into consideration: so am I," Paul said. "So am I Christ’s." And then he says, For though I should boast somewhat more about authority - he doesn’t apologize that he has a position of authority - which the Lord has given us for edification, and not for your destruction. I should not be ashamed. Now where is the trust to be placed. What is the object of trust. Is the Apostle Paul saying, "You’ve got to trust me because I have authority!"? No, he not saying that. That’s exactly what he does not say. The object of the trust is not the authority. The object of the trust is God! And when you say that "he is Christ’s," then that is that full-hearted love of God. It is the backup, if you like, that God gives to that authority - that God gives to that authority. And if we love God with all of our heart, we are going to trust God to do what is right! If we love our neighbor - if we truly love our neighbor - we are not going to point our finger at our neighbor and say, "I don’t trust you. I trust me, but not you." Now, is that loving our neighbor? The object of trust is God. That’s what the first principle teaches us - a whole-hearted love of God. And it is not - this trust is not - based upon personal advantage. You know, if I obey God, and God blesses me, then I’ll trust God. Is that what trust is based on?
Let’s come back to chapter 1. We’re still in II Corinthians.
II Cor. 1:8 - For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.
Now, I don’t know exactly what Paul was feeling, but there’s obviously a great anguish of mind being expressed here - "being pressed out of measure" - whatever it was that he was going through - very difficult time. Here is a servant of God. Here is a man doing the Work of God. Here is a man that looks to God to open doors for the advancement and the development of the Work throughout the Gentile world, and he’s running into obstacle after obstacle after obstacle - extremely difficult. He said, But - in verse 9 - we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead. Now there’s an interesting concept. "We had the sentence of death in ourselves." Conversion. What is conversion? Christ said, "Unless you be converted, and be like this little child...." Conversion is seeing self for what self is, and burying it in the watery grave of baptism. He didn’t look to God in terms of personal advantage. But he knew because he was surrendered to God - he had the "sentence of death in ourselves" - that God was first and foremost. And he wasn’t trusting in himself, but that God would take care of him - God, who raises the dead. ...who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver, in whom we trust, that he will yet deliver us. See where Paul’s trust is? It’s in God. And it wasn’t in what was taking place at that particular point in time. He just knew, that whatever was going on God, was allowing to happen, and it was going to work out for the good in the end, because God is a father, Paul was His son, and he knew of that relationship that he could have absolute trust and confidence that whatever God did, or allowed, it would work together for good. That’s where Paul’s trust was. He wasn’t looking at other people. He wasn’t looking at situations. It was in his own personal relationship with God that was based on conversion - complete and total surrender of self that opens an individual up, then, to be able to love God completely and fully.
We are God’s children - not only in a relationship, but also in character.
Let us conclude in II Samuel, chapter 7, using this as an example that is a statement that, I think, we would all like to hear said towards us. David had a particular relationship with God - as a child of God, as a son of God.
II Sam. 7:12 - When your days be fulfilled, you shall sleep with your fathers. When you die, I will set up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And God says, I will be his Father, and he shall be my son. What would it be like to know the conversation that has taken place in heaven between the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ, as they contemplate you as one of their children? And the conversation goes something like this from the Father to Christ: "I will be his Father, and he shall be My son." If we can become childlike in our attitude, that statement will be said of us.