Monday, April 30, 2018

Kids Matter




Our church has a strong heritage of investing in young people. If you go into our church office, you can see black and white pictures of rooms full of kids. I’ve heard stories of our youth pastors spending time on the local school campuses to help most students find and follow Jesus. We used to have a large youth choir where hundreds of lives were impacted for Jesus. A few decades ago we built an entire building dedicated to reaching families with young children at home.

Did you know Jesus placed a high value on kids? (read Mark 10:13-16). Think about these verses, your church history, and what we can do to carry that torch. During His public ministry, Jesus strongly emphasized the value of kids.

The story in Mark cannot be appreciated without a realization of the lowly place children occupied in society during that time, more so in pagan culture than in Jewish culture. Even just two hundred years ago, 43% of infants died before the age of five. I once heard that some children weren’t named until five years of age because so many children didn’t live that long.

The Greek word for children in verse 13 refers to an infant through a twelve year old. Jesus called these children to Him, He knew the value they held in God’s Kingdom. He modeled this high value by spending time with them and inviting them to be around Him. Jesus referred to them as being an example for having a childlike faith. Jesus wants us to model the faith that little kids model, He is using this as a teaching moment!

You’ll notice the disciples weren’t too keen on the kids coming to Jesus, though. They probably thought Jesus was too important to waste His time on them. But Jesus taught us where importance lies. Sometimes our response to kids is similar to that of the disciples. We think that the holy things of God are too important for Jesus to waste His time on little kids.

That is why this account is in the Gospel. We have to be reminded how important kids are to Jesus. They are so important that Jesus rebuked some of His closest friends to make His point.

The Bible tells us that Jesus was “indignant” at the actions of the disciples. Jesus felt anger about the kids being pushed out of His presence. Why would Jesus do that? Let me remind you about the vulnerable nature of kids that Jesus knew and is still true this day. Children are weak, helpless, and dependent on others. Kids need the help of caring adults in their life. As adults, it is our job to protect the kids in our care. As a parent, it is my responsibility to provide for my kids and take care of their needs. Kids need people like Jesus to step up and protect them.

Jesus was telling us that kids matter. I’m not telling you anything earth shattering.

I’m sure you think that kids matter, but do you act like kids matter? Sometimes we care more about things than kids. We can focus more on our phone than building relationships. We can think more about our bank account than spending that money to make memories with our children.

Our church has decided to put a high value on young people.

You might ask why we are putting such a high value on reaching young people. It’s a great question that I’d love to answer. Barna resource group recently published that over 50% of millennials are leaving the church. Studies tell us that almost 60% of young people who grew up in the church are walking away. They are walking away from their faith, their community, and away from a Jesus who loves them. We can’t sit around and watch that happen. Because of that, we’ve decided to intentionally invest ourselves and our resources into helping more kids find and follow Jesus. We feel strongly about this. Students are walking away from the church. Kids are hopeless. Teen suicide rates are increasing at an alarming rate.

We are multigenerational and kids matter here. This doesn’t mean if you are not under eighteen you don’t matter here. We think that everyone, at every stage of life matters to God. This means that young marrieds, families with young adults, people at the peak of their careers, and retired folks all matter to God. Each of us are children of God. You might say, “Neal, I’m not a believer in Jesus yet.” I understand, you are still a child of God, you just might not be living like it. People who are following Jesus and people who are seeking out Jesus all matter here.

Jesus wants us to put a high value on people. What we do for kids will change how they see God. Creating engaging worship services for retired folks is important. People at every age are important because we are multigenerational church. Now it’s good for us to know that almost 70% of people who are professing followers of Christ made that choice before the age of 18. Reaching young people is a high priority. We want everyone to help investing in someone younger than you are.

Now you might be thinking, “Neal is going to ask me to work with middle school students.” No, I am not. Middle school is a tough age, but you might not be called to that. God might use you to invest in young families. Those of you who have been married for a few decades have a wealth of wisdom that you can share with young couples. God might be asking you to invite some couples over just to encourage them in the stage of life they are. If you are nearing retirement, God might have you invest in someone who is just starting their career to be a source of encouragement. Maybe you’re good with finances and could help someone who could improve in their financial management. These relationship can turn into intentional investments into others.

I'm thankful that the Bible teaches us that kids matter. This week I'm extremely grateful for the people who invest in my kids. I'm also thankful to be a part of a church who puts a high value on investing in the lives of kids!

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