Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Good morning, church. How is everybody?
[00:00:06] I love it when we're all together. It's like the best family reunion ever.
[00:00:11] No awkwardness, just fun.
[00:00:13] I'm gonna say a prayer for us. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the joy of family and friends and being together to worship you. Thank you for the sun and outside in summer. I pray that you would bless us and fill our hearts with your good word. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:00:30] Has anybody ever felt awkward before?
[00:00:33] Like, super out of place? This is not my spot. Sometimes I've done this to myself.
[00:00:38] First day of high school, went to the wrong class.
[00:00:42] And if that wasn't bad enough, you guys, I did it the first day of college, too.
[00:00:46] And they, like, get through describing everything, and they're like, if this isn't your spot, leave now. And then you, like, awkwardly leave.
[00:00:53] Super uncomfortable. Sometimes I've been in situations where maybe somebody said something or did something that made me feel awkward. Awkward, uncomfortable, out of place.
[00:01:03] I remember being 8th grade, because 8th grade is the best, right? And we were all sitting around talking and telling stories. And I took my turn and told my story. And this girl looked over me and she's like, why do you always tell such stupid stories?
[00:01:19] And instantly felt awkward, stupid and uncomfortable, right? We're kind of good at doing this. Nobody likes it, but somehow we always find ourselves in these positions where it just. It doesn't feel good.
[00:01:35] In the New Testament, where some people started to feel this way, like a nuisance, like they weren't where they were supposed to be. But then Christ steps in and everything changed.
[00:01:47] In Mark's gospel, he tells us there was a time when some parents got really excited that Jesus was there and they wanted to take their kids to see Jesus, right? He's Jesus. He's a big deal. And they want their kids to meet him and know him and feel seen and blessed. But as they were coming to bring their children to see Jesus, the disciples, Jesus friends, step in. They're like, no, no, no, no, no, Jesus, no. Like, they try to, like, shoo them and send them away. And obviously, like, Jesus is busy. He's important. He's got big stuff to do. And so when this happens, Jesus sees it. And Mark tells us he got angry, but not at the parents and not at the children. But he scolded the disciples, and here's what he says in Mark, chapter three.
[00:02:36] Starting at Mark, chapter 10. I'm sorry. Starting at verse 14. He said, Let the children come to me. Don't stop them for the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.
[00:02:46] I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.
[00:02:53] Then he took the children in his arms, he placed his hands on their heads, and he blessed them.
[00:02:58] Now, I love Mark. Including this, because it really tells us something uniquely special about the heart of Jesus Christ.
[00:03:05] People aren't a nuisance to Christ.
[00:03:08] Where are my kiddos at? Who are the kiddos here today?
[00:03:11] You can be louder. I want to hear you. Who are my kids here today?
[00:03:15] All right, thank you. I heard you yell louder in your kidventure room, so I'm going to double back around. But you matter to Jesus. He loves you and thinks you're special. How about my teens? Where are my teens at?
[00:03:28] Any teenagers?
[00:03:30] Wow, that was.
[00:03:34] We'll circle back. It's fine.
[00:03:36] You aren't a hassle to Jesus Christ. Adults, men, women, families. Christ isn't annoyed by you. He's not too busy for you. You're not too much for him.
[00:03:50] None of us are too much for Jesus Christ.
[00:03:53] When you read about his life and who he did, what he did and who he was and what he said again and again, you see him moving towards people, not away from them.
[00:04:05] And he moved towards people and he saw them and he healed them, and he loved them. He offered them kindness and compassion.
[00:04:12] Time and again, when you read through the Gospels, you see people who were overlooked, mistreated, manipulated, treated bad, looked down upon, taken advantage of. Christ moved towards them and he treated them with dignity and respect.
[00:04:27] He included them and gave them a purpose for life. If you hear nothing else, here's what I want you to hear. You matter to Jesus Christ.
[00:04:36] In fact, Mark tells us he delights in welcoming us to come and hang out with him. When the disciples were going to stop the parents and shoo them away. Because, you know, everybody loves to be shooed. It doesn't matter how old you are, it just always feels good, not uncomfortable. Jesus steps in and stops them.
[00:04:56] See, so many times we think we'll be the ones sent away.
[00:05:01] If people just really knew who I was or if people knew what I had done, if you really knew where I came from or what my life was like.
[00:05:09] If you'd seen the terrible things I'd experienced or been a part of, surely you would know that I'm the one who's going to get sent away.
[00:05:16] But Christ delights in welcoming you.
[00:05:20] And I don't know where in your life you felt unwelcome, uncomfortable, like you didn't fit in.
[00:05:25] I don't know what space you tried to be a part of and it didn't feel like you were wanted there. But that's not the reception we get from Jesus Christ.
[00:05:35] Mark tells us about this moment so that we know Christ delights in welcoming us to hang out and be in his presence. He wants us to be near to Him.
[00:05:46] Now, maybe it was religion that made you feel excluded, but Jesus Christ never will.
[00:05:51] Maybe it was people you saw as important and valuable and you just wanted to be near them, but they kind of looked down on you and made you feel stupid. But that's not who Christ is to Christ. You matter and have value and are welcome with Him. He sees us, invites us, and has space for us.
[00:06:11] So maybe you grew up thinking like Jesus was only for a certain kind of people, right? People who talked a certain way, dressed a certain way, acted a certain way, looked a certain way, and you felt like, well, I'm not like that. So Christ couldn't be for me.
[00:06:27] Or you feel like you could never be good enough to earn his approval or do enough of the good things. And too different. Too many barriers. We're really good at human beings as creating things that separate us, right? We like to say who fits in and who doesn't and who belongs and who doesn't and what makes you different and what kind of different is good and what kind of different isn't? But that's not what Christ does.
[00:06:51] All the barriers we build up, he tears down everything we create to separate us. He moves past all of it. And there is no divide that's too great for Him.
[00:07:03] In fact, there's nothing about who you are that is a surprise to Jesus Christ.
[00:07:09] There's nothing about your past. There's nothing about who you've been or where you were or where you came from that's gonna shock Jesus Christ.
[00:07:18] He knew that about you on the day he went to the cross.
[00:07:22] And still he went there because of his great love and delight for you and for I.
[00:07:29] He already knew who you were when he went to great extremes to give his life on our behalf.
[00:07:36] No matter how many people want to tell you you don't fit in, or you're not enough this or too much of this. There is a great voice of Jesus Christ reminding you he loves you. He's for you. He's. And you matter to Him.
[00:07:50] You're not a hassle. Christ loves you. He delights in welcoming you. And he wants us to come to him with trusting hearts.
[00:07:59] Mark tells us Jesus Said the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.
[00:08:04] I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter. Enter it, kiddo. Where are my kids at? Let me hear you.
[00:08:13] All right? Getting better.
[00:08:16] Jesus said, there's something so uniquely special and wonderful about children, we should try to be more like them.
[00:08:24] See, what happens in life is as we get older, we get a little jaded, we get a little cynical, we get a little hardened. Things happen that disappoint us or let us down.
[00:08:35] We see the same thing and we're like, I knew it. People are just the worst.
[00:08:39] And as we get more jaded and more cynical and more hardened in our life, we start trusting less and less and less. But Christ said there's something delightful, delightfully wonderful in children in their open hearts, their readiness to just trust and accept, and their need. Right? When you're a kid, you need things that only your parents, only the adults in your life can give you. And Christ says He wants us to have those kind of hearts when. When we come near to Him.
[00:09:12] But see, here's the thing. A lot of us struggle with trusting in God, but it's not because God isn't trustworthy. It's because we've never spent any time with him and we don't know Him. It's hard to trust somebody you don't know, right? It's hard to really believe in somebody that you never spend any time with.
[00:09:31] And so our trust issue isn't really a God issue. It's a time issue. We. We don't know who Christ is because we've never spent time getting to know him better.
[00:09:41] And where things in our life has disappointed us, people, emotions, jobs, relationships, family, phases of life that we didn't think would be that way. Christ never, ever lets us down.
[00:09:54] I love Craig Groeschel said he did it for our leadership. But he said there's an equation that you can put together that equals trust. He said it's transparency and empathy and consistency. When these three things come together, you're more willing to trust. And I was reading that, I was thinking about it like, you know, we try to think about that with each other, but what if we thought about that with God?
[00:10:15] God hasn't really. He didn't have to tell us anything, but his whole. All of history, all of time, he's been showing us who he is so that we could know him better in this beautiful world. He's given us glimpses of his wonder and his delight and in his joy, he shared Himself with us. And if that were not enough, he sent Christ that in Christ we might know the heart and the love of God.
[00:10:43] His empathy is how much he cares for us. We're not unseen. He knows us. He knows our hearts, our lives, our hurts. And he's with us. And his consistency is even when I am faithless, he is faithful still.
[00:10:59] Even when I've messed up and gotten it wrong, Christ shows up again and again and again. Yesterday, today and tomorrow. He's faithful, he's just, and he's good.
[00:11:10] And when we spend time getting to know him, what we learn is that there is a God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. That he's merciful and just and gracious. That He's a God who forgives and heals and redeems and restores.
[00:11:27] The tension is in my daily life, who do I trust more, me or God?
[00:11:32] Who do I lean on more, what I know or what God is trying to teach me?
[00:11:38] Because the less I know God, the harder it is to depend on him and trust in Him. But the more time I spend with him, the more experience I have of his faithfulness and his goodness where he shows up, the more able I am to trust in Him.
[00:11:55] Do you trust God?
[00:11:57] Do you trust that God is for you and wants what's best for you? Do you trust that God is strong enough to be with you in your life, in all that you do? What if the greatest change you could make for your good in your life is not a hundred of the other things that you've tried, but it's just spending more time with God?
[00:12:15] What if one shift in your daily habits was you spent time reading about Jesus Christ and you got to know Him a little bit better? Because when Christ is our strength, he gives us all that we need to do the next hard thing?
[00:12:29] When the peace of Christ fills our heart, he gives us what we need to stand through the crazy messiness of life.
[00:12:38] When the love of Christ is filling up my heart, I have more to give everybody else, not less.
[00:12:45] The greater I love Christ, the greater I am able to love every other person that he has put in my life.
[00:12:52] So let me ask you, what time will you spend with Christ this week?
[00:12:56] Get to know him, hang out with him. See how truly trustworthy is. Because here's what you're going to find. There is a God who wants to bless you.
[00:13:05] Jesus took the children, he welcomed them. He put his arms around him, placed his hands on them and blessed Them this wonderful, awesome God who has an incredible plan for this world and our life. He isn't finished yet.
[00:13:20] And he doesn't just want us to know him and trust him more. He wants to bless us. He wants us to know delight and joy and to live our very best possible life.
[00:13:32] See, some of us, we haven't known that God is a God of joy. One author said, joy is at the heart of God's plan for human beings. It's at the heart of God himself. It's God's basic character and his intent that was his creation would mirror his joy.
[00:13:50] Some of us have missed God because we didn't know God was a God of joy.
[00:13:54] We didn't know that God wanted us to have delight. We thought we were just supposed to trudge through life miserable with a strong backbone and get through it all.
[00:14:03] But God is a God of joy. Look at the things that are wonderful in your life. God created that. The things that are amazing to experience. You guys. I went on a drop slide yesterday at the Cedar Point Water park where you stand on it and the floor, floor falls out from underneath you. I screamed. I'm not gonna lie. I did. It took my breath away. But it was so much fun. God created somebody smart enough to think of that. God is fun. And when we hang out with him and get to know him better, we realize that God is where we find our greatest joy.
[00:14:37] Instead of thinking about God who doesn't want me to have what's best, we get to know a God who wants what's very best for for us. Instead of chasing all of the things in life we thought would make us happy and left us feeling empty, we get to chase after a God who's already found us and we don't have far to go. He's waiting there, arms wide open, saying, won't you come hang out with me? Won't you get to know me better that we can do your best life together? It might not be easy. There might be hurdles to jump and hard roads to walk. But I promise you will find no better life than the life you spend with Jesus Christ.
[00:15:15] Maybe in spending time with God, you'll get to know a God who wants to bless you that you might experience joy, peace, contentment, and a heart full of gratitude for who he is.
[00:15:29] Maybe God isn't mean, waiting to put you down or condemn you. Maybe God is delightful and he's just waiting, arms wide open, to bless you and show you his immense grace that he has for us all.
[00:15:44] Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you would bless us. I pray that we would know you better this week, that we would get to know Christ. How great, how wonderful, how trustworthy you are. I pray, Father, that you would give us the courage to take a step of faith with you and spend some time with you this week, getting to know you better. I pray that we would experience this welcome and delight and joy in your presence and our lives and our families, our community, our church would be better because of it. Thank you. I pray this all in Jesus name, Amen.
