Growing “UP”

Growing “UP” Mark 10:13-22

Let= ’s talk about growing up. Three Sundays ago, we honored our graduates.&nbs= p; Later that same week, I wrote the graduate in our family a letter, a= s I did her brother and sister on the day of their high school graduations. The idea is not original with me&#= 8212;I got it from my Dad. I still h= ave the letter he wrote me, and cherish even more now than I did back then when= I first received it.

The= point is: our children grow up—quickly! We all hope that it’s as much= of a joy for them to do it as it is for us to watch it happen. Now, it’s kinda’ hard = for us, too—watching them grow up—writing that letter wasn’t easy= for dear-old-Dad, I promise you--but we wouldn’t have it any other way, w= ould we?

Let= ’s talk about growing up--a good subject for Father’s Day—not to i= mply anything Dads; but after all, growing up should really be a life-long pursu= it—even for us (especially for us?).

Someone sent me this story which was told by a young woman. “One day, my mom was away an= d my dad was left in charge. I was= maybe 2 1/2 years old at the time, and someone had given me a little 'tea set.' <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> It was my favorite toy. =

Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought him a cup of "tea," which was just water. After several of these cups of tea and lots of praise from Dad, my Mom came home.

Dad made her wait in the living room and watch me bring him a cup of tea, because he thought it was "just the cutest thing!" My Mom wa= ited; and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy. She watches him drink it. Then she says, (with her motherly k= nowledge) "Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get wat= er…is the toilet?"=

Wel= l, hopefully, we’re all still learning and growing. I’ll let you in on a little secret. About the time we thi= nk we’re all grown, we discover that the most challenging part of growin= g up is still ahead of us. With th= at, let’s look at our text for this morning:

Mark 10:13-22 The Little Children and Jesus ¹³People were bringing l= ittle children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. <= sup>14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." ¹⁶And he took the children in h= is arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

The= Rich Young Man ¹⁷As Jesus starte= d on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" ¹⁸"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not = give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" =

²⁰&q= uot;Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." 21Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "= ;Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." ²²At this the man's fa= ce fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

We = usually consider these as two separate passages; but it occurred to me that we have little children in the first one and a young man in the second. Take these two stories together an= d they form the brackets around what we think of as our growing up years—from childhood to young adulthood.

Ref= lecting on the first story, many of us have been blessed with parents who have made= it their aim to bring us to Jesus. Some of us were presented before the church during parent-child dedication services when we were only a few months old.

Jes= us’ disciples didn’t seem to realize that He would want to spend time with children; but He surprised them, taking the little ones into His arms—= ;a most unusual thing for a man to do in that day—but here, Jesus teache= s us about the importance of children.

Som= etimes I hear people saying that because they don’t have children, or theirs a= re all grown, children are no longer their responsibility. They shouldn’t have to pay f= or schools, buses, playgrounds or whatever.&n= bsp; Well, Jesus didn’t have any biological children—but He d= eclares here that children are important to Him—which makes them important to= all of us who follow Him.

Som= e of you could name lots of people in this church or others who have invested their = time and resources in your life—people who, in addition to your parents, h= ave taken part in bringing you to Jesus. Thank God for Christian Dads and Moms, and grandparents…aunts = and uncles, too.

And= thank God for SS teachers, Music and Missions leaders, all those wonderful folks = who changed our messy diapers in the nursery—and for the most part are gracious enough not to remind us of it now—thank God for them and for= so many others who have paved our way to Jesus. These folks really care about us, = they love us, and we should never forget them--they brought us to Jesus, and He = has blessed us!

Wit= h that, lets’ look at the passage that immediately follows the one about Jesus and the children: the story of the rich young man. Physically, he was mature. But Jesus had to confront him with= the fact that he was nowhere near “grown up.”

In = both stories, with both age groups, we find Jesus. We can only wonder how it would have changed this man’s life i= f he had been brought to Jesus when he was just a child.

But= there’s no way to go back and change that. He’s a young man when he first comes to Jesus. He’s wealthy, yet he knows something isn’t right. = He says to Jesus, "In case I am missing something, would you tell me how to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus senses that this young man is very immature in his understanding of l= ife, that his body is grown, but not his spirit. Jesus realizes that, in this case,= his growth is being stunted by his money.

We = still see this a lot—children of wealth who drop out of life, turning to dr= ugs or other unhealthy lifestyles because they’re so miserable with just mon= ey. Jesus tells him, “Go, sell everything you have, give to the poor; then come and follow me."

I think Jesus is telling him here that he needs to become more like those children with their sense of dependency. Jesus can’t give him His bles= sing until he gets himself out of the way enough to receive it.

The= young man turns down Jesus’ invitation, and in so doing, turns down the opportunity Jesus was offering him to grow up, because we never fully mature until we grow up in Christ.

Dad= s and moms, our job is to help our children grow. A good place for us to start is to= help them see the vast potential that exists in their lives, helping them discov= er what this is for them and to take those gifts and do their best.=

One of Henry Kissinger’s aides came to him with a report that the Secretary of State had assigned him to write. He laid the report on KissingerR= 17;s desk, but he didn’t pick it up.

Ins= tead, he looked up at his aide and asked, "Is this your best effort?" The man answered, "Well sir, t= here are some other things that I wanted to check out, but there wasn’t en= ough time."

So Kissinger said, "Take it back, rework it, and then bring it back to me." He did. For two additional weeks, he labor= ed over that report. Then he bro= ught it back and gave it to Mr. Kissinger.

Onc= e again, though, without looking at the report, Kissinger asked, "Does this represent your best effort?" The man thought for a moment and said, "Well, some things aren’t too well documented. I could spen= d some more time in research." =

Kis= singer said, "Take it back and work it over, and bring it back when it repres= ents your best effort." A week later, after working almost day and night, the aide brought in his report o= nce again. For the third time, wi= thout looking at it, Kissinger asked, "Does this represent your best effort?"

"Yes sir," said his aide, "This is my best effort." Kissinger replied, "That’s all I ever wanted. I will be pleased to read it now.&q= uot;

Maybe God is saying something like this to us, and He wants us to help our children hear it too: "All I want is your best effort. All I want is for you to do the ver= y best you can for Me each day."

Last April, as we celebrated the 75^th Anniversary of the Baraca Class’ radio broadcast, I was impressed by the spirit of the three men Bob Hill told us about who had the vision and perseverance to make it happen. These men were told, “It can’t be done.” They refused to accept that conclusion, though, and found a way to m= ake it happen (in 1934!).

They understood that if they gave this project their best—and mind you, th= ey were not going to get anything out of it—this was all for the Lord and His church and the people they would serve through this ministry—but these three sensed that with God’s help, if He was in it, their best would make it happen. And it = did! We should not settle for anything l= ess, nor allow our children to!

The= re’s no telling what we’ll be able to accomplish if we refuse to just R= 20;settle for something less,” especially when our aim is to do something for Christ and His Kingdom. God h= as placed this potential in our lives, and it’s not to be wasted on ourselves. God put it there t= o use it for others!

Thi= s is what we need to instill in our children: to always give their best—an= d to make sure it’s for someone or some noble cause greater than themselves. This is a very gr= own up way of thinking—a Christ-like way of thinking--and we need to help our children think in ways that honor Him!

We = live in a culture today that’s looking for short-cuts anywhere we can find th= em. Did you read about the drive-throu= gh funeral home in Pensacola, FL? They have large windows, and you ca= n gaze upon the dearly departed without ever getting out of your car. Push a button, and out comes a tray= with a registry on which you can sign your name. You don’t even have to shut o= ff your engine.

Friends, a lot of people have a similar mentality when it comes to the church. How easy can we make it? Listen--Jesus didn’= t make it easy. In fact, He told us = it would be hard. He said that following Him is about ‘selling it all, giving it away, coming empty-= handed to Christ, so that He can fill us with Himself.’

Jam= es Byrnes, who was secretary of state under FDR, said that the difference betw= een successful people and average people can be summed up with these three word= s: "and then some." He said, "Average people do what is expecte= d. Successful people do what is expected…and then some."

Average people may fulfill their responsibilities, but successful people do= that…and then some. We see this in the Christian life. Average Chris= tians come to church and go through the motions. Christians, who are successfully li= ving a Christ-like life, come to church…and then some.

Average Christians may occasionally give something of their time and resour= ces. Successful Christians always = give…and then some. =

Ave= rage Christians may pray or read their Bible at times. But effective Christians read and p= ray…and then some. God wants you and = me to be "and then some" Christians who are willing to sell out and live for Him no matter the cost.

Charles Allen tells about his first church which was way back in the mounta= ins. These mountain people lived so removed from society that they had no idea w= hat was going on in the rest of the world. They didn’t have TV. They had never flown on an airplan= e. They had no idea that we had a space program.

But here’s what they would do: they would stand and gaze at the mount= ains--and they would praise God. They w= ere poor, he said, but they didn’t really want anything for themselves. T= hey lived simply and stayed focused on God and one another.

"And then one day," he said, "a mailman delivered a mail ord= er catalogue to that little community. Somebody opened up that catalogue a= nd passed it around to others and suddenly they began to realize all the things they didn’t have. They order= ed more catalogues and passed them around too.”

He said the result was that the whole personality of that little mountain c= ommunity changed. "Instead of people with a simple faith, who could look at the mountains and see God, they became a people who sat around feeling sorry for themselves because of all the things they didn’t have."

Listen, we’re raising children today in a world that hardly knows how= to do anything but look at catalogues (on-line). They’ve seen far too many al= ready! God wants us to change our fo= cus and become "and then some" Christians.

Don’t you feel sorry for the rich young man? The opportunity of a lifetime was g= iven to him; but because he couldn’t get his eyes off of himself and his s= tuff, he turned Jesus down and walked away.

Every time we gather to worship God, that same opportunity comes. God offers it again this morning. = It’s His invitation to follow= Jesus and experience fullness of life—to set us on a journey toward being t= ruly mature—fully grown up in Him.

It&= #8217;s not cheap…or easy--never has been. It cost Jesus His Life. It costs us the same. But listen, this is LIFE--we can&#= 8217;t afford to turn Him down! Come= to Jesus. Let Him embrace you. Follow Him.