(click for Audio, sorry no Video this week!)
We were blessed to have our children leading our service this week - what a joy to see these young ones praying, reading God's word and leading our praise to our wonderful Lord.
In this message Pastor Mike Birch describes the story as it unfolds in Matthew 18:1-14, where Jesus' disciples are trying to find out who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They are used to a way of thinking about people that ranks them in terms of value and significance. That's just how people think, but it's not how God thinks! Jesus teaches them that we cannot become valuable in God's eyes by any amount of striving, but rather we are already valuable in God's eyes. He uses as child to illustrate - a "little one" of no consequence in an assembly of adults, yet Jesus chooses the child to be a model of greatness to his "superiors".
We discover that our greatness is in the fact that we have been made by God, are owned by God and are loved by God. We challenge ourselves to make sure that we are communicating to others - particularly our children - that they are valuable and that they are loved not on the basis of what they do or don't do, but on the basis of God, His creation of them and His love for them. Part of that responsibility means keeping a close watch on our own lives so that we do not cause others to stumble - to be turned away from God because of our actions. Jesus uses very powerful illustrations of judgement to impress the seriousness of this upon His listeners. We also challenge ourselves in this message to seek the reconciliation of those who have lost touch with their Maker for whatever reason, as Jesus reminds us of the incredible joy God finds in the restoration of those who have wandered from Him.
