Sermon: "Recovering A Child-Like Faith"
Many of you know that Norma McCorvey was the “Jane Roe” in the landmark Roe vs. Wade lawsuit in which a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling recognized abortion as a constitutional right.
Many of you also know she accepted Jesus as her Lord in 1995. The Lord used various people to bring Norma into His kingdom, including a seven-year-old girl named Emily.
Listen to part of Norma’s testimony.
I could out-cuss the most crass of men and women; I could out-drink many of the Dallas taverns’ regulars; and I was known for my hot temper. When pro-lifers called me a murderer, I called them worse.
I had a reputation to protect, after all. As the plaintiff in the infamous Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, my life was inextricably tied up with abortion. Though I had never had one, abortion was the sun around which my life orbited. I once told a reporter, “This issue is the only thing I live for. I live, eat, breathe, and think everything about abortion.
Then the fiery pro-life group Operation Rescue moved in next door.
I called Flip Benham, the brash and bold leader of Operation Rescue, Flip “Venom.” Flip called me “responsible for the deaths of 35 million children.” We were supposed to be sworn enemies, but due to the persistence of a local real estate agent, we became next door neighbors whose offices shared a common wall.
The Dallas police settled down to an almost hourly routine. The bleep-bleep of a police siren and the flashing blue lights could be heard and seen several times a day for the next few months as Operation Rescue and the abortion clinic clashed out in the parking lot.
Occasionally, the clashes would collapse into conversation. During one friendly banter, I goaded Flip, “What you need is to go to a good Beach Boys concert.” Flip answered, “Miss Norma, I haven’t been to a Beach Boys concert since 1976.” This seemingly innocuous response shook me to the core. All at once, Flip became human to me.
I continued the teasing. “Come on, Flip, I didn’t know you were ever a sinner.” “Miss Norma,” Flip said, “I’m a great big sinner, saved by a great big God.” Of all the things I expected Flip to say, this wasn’t one of them. I didn’t like to think of Flip as human.
As my mind was challenged to consider the truth of the Gospel, God began working on my heart through a 7-year-old girl named Emily, the daughter of Operation Rescue volunteer Ronda Mackey.
Emily’s blatant affection, frequent hugs, and direct pursuit disarmed me. The little girl’s interest was all the more surprising considering Emily made it very clear that her acceptance of me wasn’t an acceptance of my lifestyle. Early on in our relationship, I explained to Emily, “I like kids and wouldn’t let anyone hurt little kids,” to which Emily responded, “Then why do you let them kill the babies at the clinic?”
Isn’t it great how kids go right to the heart of an issue?
On another occasion, I invited Emily into my office. As I made appointments, Emily kept herself occupied. During one phone call, I lost my temper and said to a caller, “I’d just as soon see you in hell as see you in here,” and Emily responded, “You don’t have to go to hell, Miss Norma. You can pray right now and Jesus will forgive you.”
Here again we see the simple direct faith of a child.
“Miss Norma,” Emily cooed one afternoon, “it would be sooo cool if you would come to church with us.” I didn’t want to disappoint Emily directly, so I answered, “Well, Emily, we’ll have to be cool another time. I can’t go to church with you this weekend.” If I didn’t want to offend Emily by an abrupt denial, I needn’t have worried. Emily wasn’t about to give up. Every morning, Ronda heard Emily pray, “Dear God, help Miss Norma to come to Jesus.”
Ronda didn’t want Emily to be disillusioned about God not answering her prayers, so she explained, “God always answers our prayers, Emily, but Miss Norma has a choice to make here. She probably won’t choose to follow Jesus. That’s Miss Norma’s fault, not God’s. I don’t want you to think God isn’t listening to your prayers simply because Miss Norma doesn’t become a Christian.” Emily smiled. “She’s going to come to know Jesus, mama.” And with the faith of a child, Emily kept asking if I would come with her to church.
Finally, I said yes. I didn’t agree to go to church out of a sudden need for God in my life. I just grew tired of telling Emily “no,” so I said “yes.” Ronda was skeptical. “Norma? In church?” But when they went to pick me up, I was dressed and ready to go.
Whatever my reasons for going, one sermon was all I needed. Pastor Morris Sheats of Hillcrest Church ended his sermon with a compelling evangelistic call from John 3:16 asking, “Is anyone here tired of living a sinner’s life?” Immediately I felt overwhelmed with my need to respond.
How could I say no? I had been tired of it for years, but it was the only life I knew! I cautiously raised my hand, then opened my eyes and looked up to see if that really was my hand raised up high. It was. I couldn’t believe it. I walked forward, leaning heavily on Ronda for support.
If you are a Christian, do you remember when your faith was a simple faith like Emily’s? That is the kind of faith we need to become a part of God’s family. Listen to what Jesus said.
MATTHEW 18:1-4 - 1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
We need a simple, trusting, humble, childlike faith to enter God’s kingdom. The trouble that many of us Christians encounter is that somewhere in our journey we lose that simple faith. We find ourselves asking…
I. WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SIMPLE FAITH
The answer to this question is not the same for everyone. But is usually a combination of the following four things.
A. A LACK OF SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT
When we fail to feed our spiritual lives through Bible study, prayer, worship, Christian fellowship, and Christian service we very quickly lose our simple childlike faith.
An article Margaret placed in our “Light on the Hill” newsletter on February 1, 2007 spoke to this issue. It was called…
WHY GO TO CHURCH
A churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.
“I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”
This started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
“I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me those meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!
Another thing that can destroy our simple faith is…
B. THE PRESSURES OF LIFE
There are so many things we must do. We work at our jobs, sometimes we work overtime or do some additional part-time work, we have work at home to do, our children are involved in many activities, and we like to have some time for our own hobbies.
It is easy to get so busy that we don’t have time for God in our lives. He gets pushed to the back of our lives and no longer seems real.
Of course …
C. THE SORROWS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS OF LIFE…
…can also cover over the simple faith we once had. The death of a loved one, a marriage that is miserable, a failed business venture, serious health problems, loss of a job or being betrayed by someone you trusted can all cause us to doubt our faith or even God’s existence.
Finally, our simple faith can fade into the background because of …
D. THE ATTACKS OF SATAN
We do indeed have an unseen enemy. The Bible says …
EPHESIANS 6:12 - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Satan and his army of helpers use temptations, lies, and various events in our lives in an attempt to weaken or destroy our faith. Often they catch us off guard and before we realize what has happened our simple faith in God is gone.
Now that we have looked at some things which can cause us to lose the child-like faith that Jesus spoke about, let’s look at…
II. THREE QUALITIES THAT WILL HELP YOU RECOVER A CHILD-LIKE FAITH
The first one is…
A. HUMILITY
Jesus spoke about this in our scripture lesson. He said…
MATTHEW 18:4 - Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
In Jesus’ time, this would have been a shocking statement. To admit weakness or to give up social position was considered contemptible. But Jesus taught that God was supreme. To enter his kingdom required humility because you had to be willing to admit that you had a need and that you could not make yourself good enough to be acceptable to God.
Using a child to illustrate humility is a great way to depict our standing as human beings before God. Children are weak and dependent. Children are not afraid to voice their needs.
To have a child-like faith means that we accept the fact that we need God for everything. David described the humility that is necessary to have a simple faith by comparing himself to a weaned child with its mother.
PSALM 131: 1-2 - 1My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. 2But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
In the Hebrew language, the word translated as “weaned” means to bestow upon, to deal with bountifully, to treat a person well.
That is how a mother deals with a child who has just been weaned from her breast. The weaned child is dependent upon its mother and trusts its mother completely because its mother has treated the child well. That’s the simple kind of faith we need to have in God. But it only comes when we are willing to…
- ADMIT OUR NEED
- GIVE UP OUR PRIDE
- ASK FOR GOD’S HELP
Far too often as Christians we try to divide our lives into two categories … the normal things in life which we can handle and the major things in life for which we need God.
The truth is, everything we have comes from God and we need to constantly be humbling ourselves before him. We need him as a child needs its mother. He loves us even more than a mother loves her child. Why then are we so proud that we refuse to humble ourselves before him? This pride … this refusal to admit we need and seek God’s help drains the life out of a simple faith.
So if you want to recover a child-like faith, start by humbling yourself before God.
The second quality that can help you regain a child-like faith is
B. SIMPLICITY
A great example of simplicity in faith is found in a little servant girl we read about in II Kings. Listen to the brief account where she is mentioned and look for the simplicity in her faith.
II KINGS 5:1-3 - 1Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.
2Now bands from Aram had gone out and taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
Don’t you love a faith that does not have layer upon layer of requirements? She believed that God’s prophet, Elisha, could heal Naaman of his leprosy. All he had to do was go and seek Elisha’s help.
That is the kind of simplicity we need to have when it comes to trusting in God.
Yes, there is a time and place for Christians to discuss and debate some of the great theological questions. We need great thinkers who can debate the various views or theories on sanctification, the second coming of Jesus, the seven days of creation, the great tribulation and other deep topics, but there is also a time for simplicity.
I believe God created the universe. I believe God lives in me through His Holy Spirit. I believe Jesus is going to come to earth once again. For me that is enough.
Yes, I enjoy reading what the great thinkers have to say and can even enjoy a small debate but sometimes too much reading or debating can smother a simple child-like faith.
We don’t need to second-guess ourselves or God. We don’t need to stumble over past disappointments or try and understand every view or angle. Sometimes we just need to say, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
There will always be things we don’t understand. Life here on this earth will always be unfair. Heartaches, disappointments, illnesses, and struggles will be a part of our lives, but through them all we can choose to trust God. We won’t understand and we won’t be able to give explanations, but we can just simply trust. Simplicity like that will help to restore a child-like faith.
The third quality is…
C. IMMEDIACY
Jesus explained this very clearly in his Sermon on the Mount. Rather than worrying and getting upset over what has happened in the past or may happen in the future, Jesus said we should focus on God’s will for our lives now.
MATTHEW 6:33-34 - 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Live in the present by seeking to please God knowing that gaining his kingdom is what really counts. At best our time here on Earth is short.
Like a child we need to live in the present. Regret about water that has flowed under the bridge or fear of the floods that may come cause you to miss God’s provision and guidance for the present.
Now that we have looked at three qualities that can help you recover a child-like faith – humility, simplicity, and immediacy – let’s look at some…
III. KEYS TO BRINGING HUMILITY, SIMPLICITY, AND IMMEDIACY INTO YOUR LIFE
These are not great new revelations, but they are things that have worked for centuries.
A. PRAY
Jesus said…
JOHN 15:7 - If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
If you want a simple child-like faith asking God for it is a good place to start. Next…
B. SEE YOURSELF AS GOD’S CHILD
The Bible assures us that he welcomes us into his family. He is a father who takes great delight in you.
ZEPHANIAH 3:17 - The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
C. ENJOY EACH DAY, EACH HOUR, EACH MOMENT
Paul said it this way…
PHILIPPIANS 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
David said it this way…
PSALM 37:4 - Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
CONCLUSION
Are you satisfied with your faith in God? Is it as simple and trusting as seven-year-old Emily’s was? It can be, if you will strive to bring…
- Humility
- Simplicity
and
- Immediacy
… into your life.
If you start living like this you will find joy in reading and studying your Bible. The demands of life won’t be anything less but you will be less hurried and anxious.
The choice is yours. Do you really want a childlike faith?