To be used with the sermon
The Light of God in a Child’s Eyes
Musical prelude:
Invocation:
Call to worship:
“Remember
your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the
years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them.’”
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your
own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your
paths straight.” —Eccl. 12:1, Prov. 3:5, 6.
Opening Hymn: Any
hymn of praise and adoration
Offering:
Children’s Story: (A
story that stresses God’s love no matter what the child does would be good. God
may be disappointed and sad, but He always loves us and we can always seek
forgiveness.)
Special Music or Praise Songs:
Prayer for the Congregation: (Ask the one praying to be certain to pray for those
suffering from abuse or who may be abusing)
Responsive
He took a
little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to
them,
“Whoever welcomes one of these little
children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me
but the one who sent me.”
“Teacher,”
said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to
stop, because he was not one of us.”
Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one
who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me,
for whoever is not against us is for us.
I tell you
the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to
Christ will certainly not lose his reward.
And if anyone causes one of these
little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown
into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.
—Mark
Sermon: “The Light of
God in a Child’s Eyes”
Hymn
of Dedication: “The
Benediction:
Postlude:
by Audray Johnson
Director, Family Ministries,
The spiritual
development of our children is an important part of parenting and is a task of
the church. Adults have a positive duty
to enable children's faith in God and to avoid any attitudes or behaviors
toward children that would cause them to stumble.
Theme text
Mark 9:36-42
Presentation Notes
Throughout the following outline a
superscript number 1, 2, 3 will indicate illustrations, quotations
and other material found in the section called Sermon Illumination that
may be helpful in your sermon development and delivery.
Introduction
Like most
Christians, Seventh-day Adventists have been concerned about the character
development of their children. The
amount of money we spend for our children's education and the many
denominational schools, academies, colleges and universities we have built
demonstrates how serious we are about our children. We want them to grow up to be
Christians. We want them to grow up in
the church we love and to believe as we have believed. We want them to be saved. We want them to be in heaven. So we willingly make sacrifices, live
frugally, put off making major purchases, sometimes even take additional jobs
so we can provide for them.
Despite our
concerns and our investment in them, we are painfully aware that many of our
children choose to follow paths different from what we had dreamed for
them. Others seem to have graduated from
church when they graduated from academy or college. What happened? Why do those who once took such delight in
lisping the name of Jesus seem so far away from Him now?
The answers to
the questions of why older children and adolescents make the choices they do
are complex. One important point that
must be made is that spiritual development is not the same as indoctrination. The religious experience of many youth has
been one of indoctrination rather than spiritual development. Almost anyone can learn a set of rules or
memorize doctrinal statements, but a living relationship with Jesus, though it
includes doctrinal understandings, is surely much, much more.
Jesus Honored Children
Jesus identified closely with children. Jesus
honored children and taught us about their spiritual development. In one instance, He motioned to a child, held
the little one in His arms and said, "Whoever welcomes one of these little
children in my name welcomes me" (Mark
Jesus
elevated the faith of children. A related passage adds an additional thought,
"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:3). How astonishing that Jesus would hold up the
faith of a child as the standard for entrance into the kingdom! Do children believe in God? Jesus maintained that they do. Notice His words, "these little ones who
believe in me" (Mark
Child
psychiatrist Robert Coles (1990) conducted an interesting study in which he
interviewed children from many backgroundsCRoman Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Native
American, atheist, even Seventh-day Adventist.
What he learned was that children, particularly those in the early
pre-teen years, do indeed have an active spiritual life and a definite opinion
that God is important in their lives.
Most people who have taken the time to really listen to children will
not find that surprising. Could it be
that we have missed the importance of the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives
of the little ones around us, a work that is taking place whether we tell the
story of Jesus or not, whether we indoctrinate them or not? Have we missed the fact that God is trying to
reach these little ones, whoever and wherever they are? Why wouldn't He? Why wouldn't God, who is pouring out His
grace on all humankind, find it valuable to work with human minds who are
young, fresh, and more likely to hear His voice?1
Jesus warned about causing children to sin. In
earlier verses in Mark 9, we find that the disciples had been in dispute over
who should be the greatest and they were somewhat uncomfortable with Jesus'
object lesson, as is indicated by their response. The disciple John changed the subject,
bringing up an unrelated incident about a man whom the disciples rebuked for
driving out demons in the name of Jesus.
Jesus honored John with a brief response, but then drew him and all the
disciples back to the point He was making about children. "And if anyone causes one of these
little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown
into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck" (Mark 9:42).
What is Jesus
talking about when He pronounces such a terrible consequence upon those who
offend a child? What does it mean to
cause a child to sin? Few parents would
deliberately teach a child to steal, murder, or commit other sins. Jesus must be referring to something
different from that. Could it be that
Jesus considers this offense against children to be anything that adversely
affects the child's belief in Him?
Evidently Jesus is referring to attitudes and actions that lead a child
away from God, discourages him or her, or does something that would make it
hard for the child to believe in a loving God of grace. Jesus would have older ones to encourage the
spiritual development of our children and the church's children by teaching, by
examples of grace, love, peace, joy and all the evidences of the fruit of the
Spirit of God within. There are several
practical ways in which we do this.
Safeguarding a Child's Spiritual Development
Provide your child with emotional security. If it
is safe to talk about anything at home, with reasonable calmness, children will
learn to be comfortable talking about anything with God. If it is safe to discuss things in
peace, emotional safety, and someone to listen
and take him or her seriously. Too often
he or she may attempt to satisfy that hunger in some spectacular secular
experience or in some deeply spiritual pursuit.
Encourage your child's trust. When
home is a caring place where physical and other needs are met, children readily
learn that God can be counted on to care for them.2 But what of those who have been
neglected? How shall they learn that God
really does supply our every need?
Develop your child's sense of personal
worth. Healthy self-esteem is formed when children
are affirmed and youth are encouraged (and when Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa
affirm one another!). When children are
made aware of how precious they are to their care-givers, it will help them to
understand that God values them as well.3
Yet, discouraging words and, what is worse, soul-destroying
expressions can be uttered so thoughtlessly and flippantly. "You can never
do anything right!" "How can you be so stupid?" "I wish you
had never been born." Many
Seventh-day Adventist parents find it all too easy to hit children on the head
with Bible verses or with Ellen White quotations. Children who are assaulted this way find it
hard to feel valued by anyone, much less by the God of the universe.
Use appropriate discipline with your child
to develop self-discipline and respect. When children are taught from an
early age through loving and appropriate discipline, they learn to order their
lives with self-discipline. They learn
how to live under the authority of God and to properly respect earthly
authorities. Everyone, including a
child, learns respect by being respected.
Teaching respect to children is best done by earning their respect.
Damage Caused by Family Abuse and Violence
Lack of self-discipline. If
children are ruled by punishments, beatings and other physical abuse,
self-discipline will be hardly learned at all.
Impaired perception of God. What
is worse for their spiritual experience is that, in their minds, God will carry
the biggest stick of all. Many adults
have been struggling all their lives to relate to God as a God of love.
Confused, they may have settled for an intellectual understanding that God
probably loves them. However, they cannot
escape the fear that, if they step out of line, God stands ready to mete out
harsh punishments.
Many people in
society today have expressed grave concern over the growing tendency toward
violent behavior, particularly among youth.
They believe what is needed is a "return" to corporal
punishments. In their frustration these
well-meaning citizens forget that the worst offenders are almost always
individuals who have already been beaten and abused countless times.
Arrested character development. Recent
studies have shown that the more corporal punishment is used, the less chance
there is for character development.
Christians should not be surprised at this because of the patience and
longsuffering of God and His great reticence to expose His beloved people to
any kind of harsh correction, yet history provides a sad commentary on the use
of harsh punishments by Christians.
Seventh-day Adventists should be even less surprised, for we have
specific counsel from Ellen White about the adverse effects of harsh, punitive
correction.4
Increased combativeness. Ellen
White once traveled westward by train.
At one stop, her attention was drawn to a mother traveling with several
children, one of whom was misbehaving.
This woman was yelling at her son, hitting him, and threatening him with
all sorts of dire punishments when they got home. The whole scene reminds us of episodes we
have seen in public places today! Mrs.
White, however, had the courage to go sit with this mother, listen to her
frustrations and talk to her. Among the
things Mrs. White said was, "Violence will only raise his combativeness
and make him still worse."5
Remarkably, that is exactly what behavioral scientists are learning
today!
Provide for Children the Right Kind of Touch
Effects of loving touch. When
healthy, appropriate touch is commonplace in the family, love is learned and
returned. Those affectionate little hugs
and kisses, holding children close, reading to them, telling them stories,
those tender moments when little ones feel loved, those are the times when
children learn about love. The love of parents and other humans teaches about
God's love. They will delight in the
stories of Jesus who picked up the children and held them on His lap. They will carry with them into adulthood the
notion that God delights in them, holding them dear.
The betrayal of sexual abuse. When
sexual abuse takes place, especially by a parent, how can that little one learn
what it is to relate to the perfect love of God? How many adults still struggle with that
today! Only those who have experienced
sexual abuse can understand that while the grace of God helps get them through,
the pain of the experience never completely disappears. Betrayal of this kind goes to the deepest
part of the soul and produces very ugly scars.
Conclusion
The conclusion to
which we are brought is that Jesus views offense to children so seriously that
He reserves the most dire consequence for those who offend. It is important to have discipline and order
in the home or in society, but such teaching and discipline must always be in
the context of grace. It is often hard
to learn to do things in ways other than they were done to us. Most parents do things the way their parents
did. From generation to generation habits
have been passed down, and cultural programming is hard to override. But Jesus arrives and informs us, even in our
cultural setting, that we are different!
We can, through the power offered to us, learn the ways of the
God has called us
to serve Him with a heart of love. He
has called us to pass along that love to our children and our children's
children. Beginning with those times
when our babies were in the crib, we taught them our theology as we picked them
up. When we ourselves cried in the crib
and we were picked up and kissed, we learned that we were loved. We teach our children that they are sacred
when we do the same for them.
Jesus had a deep
love for the children. They held a
special place in His heart and He held them up as models in the realm of God, a
sacred trust to be treated with special love and compassion. The innocence, simplicity and trust of the
child reveal those dimensions of God to us as well as give us insight into how
human life is meant to be lived. Their
infectious joy consoles and lifts our spirits.
Their ability to attract loving attention is much like that of God,
who's irrepressible love attracts a loving response from us. Let the children come, for of such is the
kingdom of heaven.
Sermon Illumination
1 Three-year-old Timothy had not had a good
day. In fact, the past many weeks had
been difficult because his Dad had to go to the hospital again and again for
chemotherapy. This time, however, it
seemed to him that Dad was very sick indeed.
He began to worry that Dad would die.
Out on the hospital lawn he cried and screamed and refused to get into
the car to go home. He wanted to go back
and be with his Dad. "Daddy's too
sick. He's not going to get better and I
won't have a daddy," he cried. It
took me, his Grandma, a while to get him to realize that his dad was my little
boy and that I was very sad, too.
Knowing someone else shared his sadness seemed to help. He agreed to go home with me in the car. All the way there this three-year-old and I
talked about Job, part twoCour part.
It was an adult conversation about pain and suffering and us and God,
only with a child's vocabulary.
I did not realize
what that conversation meant for Timothy until later when I was showering and
trying to wash away my sadness along with the dirt and grime of the day. Just then I heard a little voice from the
other side of the shower curtain.
Timothy was there in the bathroom, near me, and singing quietly,
"Praise Him, praise Him, all you little children." He sang this children's hymn all the way
through. But he wasn't finished
yet. As he stroked and cradled his
favorite bathtub toy, a little rubber duck, he quietly said, "I love you,
God." Sacred moment!
(Editor's note: Timothy's grandma is Audray
Johnson. His Dad is now home and doing
fine.)
2 Rabbi Bradley Arnston of
3 Rex Johnson, a pastor and therapist from
4 Your children are God's property, bought with
a price. Be very particular, O fathers
and mothers, to treat them in a Christlike manner. (Child Guidance, p. 27)
Exact
obedience in your family; but while you do this, seek the Lord with your
children, and ask Him to come in and rule.
Your children may have done something that demands punishment; but if
you deal with them in the spirit of Christ, their arms will be thrown about
your neck; they will humble themselves before the Lord and will acknowledge
their wrong. That is enough. They do not then need punishment. Let us thank the Lord that He has opened the
way by which we may reach every soul.
If your
children are disobedient, they should be corrected. . . . Before correcting them, go by yourself, and
ask the Lord to soften and subdue the hearts of your children and to give you
wisdom in dealing with them. Never in a
single instance have I known this method to fail. You cannot make a child understand spiritual
things when the heart is stirred with passion.
(Child Guidance, p. 244)
5 This mother's mode of government set my mind
on a study. She forced them to
self-assertion in various improper ways, showing the mother's management was a
sorry failure. . . . All this mother seemed to know of government was that of
brute force. She was threatening,
intimidating. Her youngest children
seemed to have a fear to stir. Others
looked hard and defiant. Some looked
ashamed and distressed.
I longed
to preach a sermon to that mother. I
thought if that mother knew her responsibility as a mother, she would not pursue
the course she had done in that depot. . . .
Every harsh word, every passionate blow, would react upon her
again. If she were calm and patient and
kind in her discipline, the power of her example for good would be seen in her
children's deportment. . . .
How many souls such mothers will gain to the fold of Christ is a
question. I really do not believe they
will gather one soul to Jesus. They
train, they rule, they ruin. (E. G. White, quoted in Adventist Heritage,
Summer, 1990, p. 26)
References
Coles, R. (1990).
The spiritual life of children.
White, E. G. (1954). Child guidance.
White, E. G.
(1990, Summer). A letter to