Denying Children Access To Jesus Series

Evening Service for 8/15/2010

“What Would Jesus Hate? Denying Children Access to Jesus”

Introduction:

A tired stay at home mom opened the front door of her home to find the preacher from the church who said, “I’m collecting donations for the new children’s home we’re building. Just asking you to give what you can.” “Absolutely,” said the tired woman. “I’ll give you two boys, two girls, or one of each.”

WBTU:

A. Read Mark 10:13-16

B. What would Jesus Hate? Judging sinners, disciple dividing, legalism, and denying children access to Jesus

C. Vs. 14 Jesus was indignant= anger around by something unjust or mean. Other translations say he was greatly displeased. The Amplified says that he was indignant and pained. He was sad and angry at the same time.

D. What was Jesus indignant about? The disciples stopping the little children from coming to him.

E. There are some good topics here to discuss like vs. 15. Must receive the Kingdom like a little child. Children are trusting and innocent. Don’t want to focus on this.

F. Vs. 16. Jesus was a fun guy to be around and he loved children. Don’t focus.

G. Focus on the topic of how people deny children access to Jesus.

H. Before we get started let’s talk a little (not focus too much on this) about how the world denies children access to Jesus. This goes beyond denying children access to Jesus but also denying children access to many good things in life.

I. The lack of care for children plagues many societies. It is survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle, in some countries. Children are ignored at the best or abused at the worst. Young children in some countries are enslaved to work in sweatshops. Must watch out for buying products from these sweatshops. Other children are forced into prostitution. Tim Harlow tells a story about a prostitute in a slum in a third world country that got pregnant and had a little girl. When that girl turned 3 years of age, that mother sold out her daughter to men. The mother was greatly pleased because she could make a lot more money selling out her daughter than doing prostitution herself. Other children are thrown before cars so that when the driver gets out of his car to see how this child is doing other family members mug him, steal his car and kill him. Other children are taught how to steal to provide for the family. Other children are brought into the illegal drug trade at a young age to provide for the family. Think about all of those children in Haiti without a father or mother.

J. At the North American they were talking about adopting children through various missions organizations to get these children in the poorest of the poor into a children’s home. There they would be given an education and an opportunity to live a different life. The dream is to have these children grow up and make a difference for the gospel.

K. In this country we have problems like the ones above but not at such an alarming rate. In our culture, we allow advertisers to pose children in sexually suggestive ads for clothing across the page from a story about child molestation. We permit the media to glamorize violence, sex, and drugs in programming targeted for children and adolescents. We allow industries to conduct psychological studies on how to entice children to buy products that have been demonstrated to be addictive and harmful to health. Protecting profit margins is apparently more important than protecting children. We allow and in some cases even encourage parents to skip out on the responsibility of providing financial support for children that they brought into the world, so that the child must cope with poverty as well as the absence of a parent(s). There are few orphans here. Most in foster care and children’s homes have parents but they are not fit or able or willing to take care of their children.

L. Go to Matthew 18:1-5 Oh look Jesus is being so nice and lifting up little children. Vs. 6 and 7 he changes his tone. This is how much Jesus thinks of little children!

Thesis: Let’s talk about how the church sometimes denies children access to Jesus.

For instances:

1. By not offering ministry to children whose parents are not members of the church.

A. Here we have a wonderful Wednesday night program. At least with the teenagers that come, half do not have parents who attend church anywhere. Our challenge is how to get them born again Christians and how to get them involved in things beyond Wednesday night.

B. These children are at risk, and many have never known unconditional love and acceptance from caring adults.