Cornerstone PLUS

Good morning and a very, warm welcome to you. My name is Tom Sweitman. I'm the assistant pastor here at the church. And, it's great to have you on this Thanksgiving Day. And, it's great to have you if you're a visitor or a guest or a family member with us.

You're really, really welcome. Thank you for coming. Today, and we trust that you feel very, warmly welcomed. We're here at a Thanksgiving service, and so that's what we've been doing, and that what we're gonna continue to do, to give thanks for these little ones who we've just, seen up at the front here. But what I also want us to do this morning is to think about what we can learn from these babies, what we can learn from them, which may seem like a strange idea, given that they cannot speak or tell us anything, but the Bible does say that there is lots that we can learn from children and from infants.

And so for inspiration this week, I was looking online. I did a simple search. What can we learn from children? And I found a website called 15 things that children can teach adults. And so as a way of warming us up to this theme.

I thought I would share just 3 of them with you, the top 3. The first is this. This is what children can teach us. Here today, to see everybody as special. Have you noticed the admiration children have in their eyes when they look at you?

And everybody around you. That sparkle. They see everybody through their innocent and beautiful eyes and they see everybody as special. Secondly, they teach us how to love unconditionally, Learn to give without expecting anything in return. For that is what real and unconditional love is all about and that is what children can teach you.

They're a bit like the sun which shines for us without expecting anything in return. Thirdly, to give with an open heart, children give and share from the heart. They are happy to share everything with everyone. Only later on, do we teach them to keep their stuff? This is a lesson we definitely must learn from them.

Now, I've got very limited experience as a parent, only only 8 months, in fact, but as I was reading through these, I did wonder whether this person has even seen a child, let alone had 1 themselves, And, if this author is talking about their own children, then we need to get them in to run a parenting course here, don't we? Because this is the dream, isn't it, I think, for any parent? 15 things we can we can learn. Now, thankfully, when we open up the Bible, we don't find, this sort of slush we find real things, that we can learn from children, and that's not to say that the Bible downplays the role of parents and carers. It doesn't parents and carers and carers in the local church and in the family are very, very important in the Bible.

And interestingly, the Bible also warns us that in some ways, we shouldn't be like children. There are some things that we definitely shouldn't imitate about them, but there are ways in which we can learn from them. And so this morning, that is what I want us to focus on. I want Daisy and Chloe and Asher and Esther to be our teachers. This morning.

I'm only gonna point out what god says they're trying to say to each 1 of us here. And the first thing that we can learn from them or the thing that they're trying to say to us is that there is a creator god. Here is a picture that I found on the BBC this week and there's brand new technology that scientists are developing And basically, they've got these, incredible MRI scanners and cameras, which now allow them to take hundreds and hundreds of images of a baby's heart. And what they then do with the images is they can build 3 d model, perfectly accurate 3 d model of a baby's heart. And it's an amazing piece of kit because When they're taking the photos, the heart is constantly beating, as well as the baby moving around inside the womb, And so every image is blurry, but they've got this software which can reconstruct the images and allow them to build this beautiful intricate model of a baby's heart.

And there's a shot of the doctor holding 1 of these tiny little hearts here and, I think it's just an incredible, incredible bit of engineering. This tiny little heart that was at 1 time just a few cells has now developed into this incredible life giving organ which is just a centimeter wide. Look at the intricacy and the beauty of it. Last week in our student group, we had a PhD research biologists come in to speak to our students about the relationship between science and Christianity. And at the end of the session, we were discussing DNA.

And he was making the point that DNA contains information. There is a language that is written into DNA which allows the cells and the tissues to grow and function in accordance with the rules and the language that have been written into it. And we were saying that it's true with any language, isn't it? When you learn a language, there are certain rules, there are alphabet, there is logic and grammar that has been written into the language by intelligent minds or has developed over the history. And we know that is true also about these little hearts.

When we look at a baby's heart, we can see that the DNA there has got this language written into it. It has rules. It develops in a certain way in accordance with the laws that have been written into it. But how does it know how to do that if there is no intelligent mind? That is guiding it.

The classic example of this, the historical argument is the pocket watch. Maybe you've maybe you've heard this 1. You're walking along and you see a pocket watch on the side of the road, and you pick it up and you, press it open, and you can see inside or the mechanics of the pocket watch and the way that the parts work together intricately to make the whole thing work. And we know that in that situation, if it was us who discovered the pocket watch, that there must be some kind of intelligent mind that has put it all together. It would be irrational to conclude that this pocket watch had formed itself, or that it was a result of an explosion in a metal factory, and this just happened to pop out the end.

We know when looking at something like that, there is an intelligent mind behind it. Now that scenario doesn't tell us everything there is to know about the designer just like looking at a baby's heart doesn't tell us everything that there is to know about god. But from a rational standpoint, it is more logical to conclude that a pocket watch or a baby's heart is not the product of mindless chaos but it has a designer. And again, that's not to say that these things always work perfectly. And sadly, they don't.

And actually, 1 of the reasons they're developing this technology is so that they can identify problems with a baby's heart, even very small problems that they weren't able to identify before, so it's gonna help to diagnose some of that. But if you found a pocket watch on the side of the road with a broken second hand, you wouldn't, for that reason, conclude It must be a chaotic mind behind it. It bears the marks of a designer, and the Bible tells us exactly these things. Here's a, a little, section from the Bible, it's from the Psalms, which is in the Old Testament. It's a book of, songs and poems.

And Psalm 139 says this, for it was you, lord, who created my inward parts You knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless All my days were written in your book and planned before a single 1 of them began.

A couple of weeks ago, me and another member of the church went to Belarus, to support a couple, over there and to do some work with them And, as part of our trip, we went to this traditional Belarusian village called Deduki, which is a strange place. It's set out in the countryside, And basically, they've gone back several hundred years and they want to show you what life was like for an ordinary Belarusian. All those years ago. And basically, you go on a tour and you go around all these different cabins and sites, and in each 1, there is somebody dressed up in traditional Belarusian, garments, and they're doing something that they would have had to do. So, whether it's bee making or, be sorry, honey, making, or potter of bee making.

That would be an incredible skill, wouldn't it? Or pottery, or carving, or so on. And there's 1 of them where you go in and there's this lady sat at a loom, and it's an old fashioned loom, and it's just the most incredible bit of architecture. And, from this loom, she sits there She uses both her hands and both her feet in order to stitch and weave together these incredible patterns. And, when you look around the cabin, there's all of her designs and rugs and carpets hanging from the wall with some of the patterns, like I've put at the bottom of that slide.

And when again, when you look at the intricacy of those patterns, you could not conclude that there was a mindless chaos behind it. That there was an explosion in the fabric factory and lo and behold, these things came out. There is an intelligent mind you can see her working on the loom, 2 hands, 2 feet weaving together these patterns. And that is what is taught about. That is actually the image that is used in this psalm.

They have been knitted together. They have been woven together these babies that we're giving thanks for. It's as all it's as if god has been sat at the great loom in heaven, and he stitched and weaved every 1 of these infants together. He talks about the, inward parts or the the kidneys, really. That would be literally.

And, in the Hebrew mind, they believe that the kidneys were the very center of a person because they're pretty much smack bang in the middle and they're at the deepest part. The kidneys were the seat of your emotions and affections, but even in those deepest parts, which no 1 else can see, God has been at the loom just like he is with the artery in the baby's heart. He's been weaving and stitching these things together. And so the point is when we look at these infants this morning, our mouths should quite literally drop. They are remarkably and wondrously made.

I was reading it all to get a different view, this week in a in a book, and there's a chat with Joseph Fletcher, who's a professor of ethics and, he says this about newborn babies. He says, what is critical is personal status not merely human status. Don't worry about that bit so much, but he then says newborns have not attained the status of personhood yet. They are subpersonal organisms. They are subpersonal organisms.

Now that wouldn't be a very warming explanation of Ester and, Asher and Chloe and Ester subpersonal organisms. And I just want to ask you, which definition fits better? Tell me which definition fits better. Wanderously remarkably made, subpersonal organisms. Which description fits better?

As we look At these babies this morning, they are trying to teach us that there is a designer, and there is an architect, a loving creator, who has formed everything even to the tiny chambers of their hearts. The first thing we can learn is there is a creator. Secondly, we can learn how we ought to approach god. We can learn how we ought to approach god. Have a look at this verse.

This is from the new testament, Matthew's gospel. At that time, the disciples who were the the the closest followers of Jesus here, came to Jesus and asked, so who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He called a child and had him stand among them. Truly I tell you, he said, Unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child, this 1 is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoever welcomes 1 child like this in my name welcomes me. So these disciples at this time were very confused about what it meant to be great in god's eyes. And in many ways, they were quite like us. They thought that greatness was about status, and success. And the way you measured how great you were was how many people lesser than you you had.

So if you were ruling in the high places and, you were in charge of lots of people and people knew your name around town and you were climbing the ladder at at, incredible speeds, then you were great. You were great. And the disciples are saying, who who is greatest like that in the kingdom of heaven? But Jesus completely turns the tables on them. And while they're there, he invites this little child and the word can actually be translated infant He invites this infant if you like among them and says, unless you're converted and become like a little child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

And it's an amazing thing for Jesus to do because at this particular time in history, children were not thought of very highly. You wouldn't go to a child for any advice. There would be no websites entitled 15 things you can learn from a child. They were despised. In fact, some of them, were so strong in this belief that a child wasn't even considered to exist until they were 12 years old.

So they didn't have a very high status and yet Jesus does the opposite. He invites a little child in among them and says, you gotta be like that. Or you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. But why does he use a little child as an example? Well, look at them.

We've seen them this morning, haven't we? They are helpless in themselves. They need their parents for everything. As I was saying, we've got an 8 month boy at the moment, and he's recently had an ear infection, and, has been struggling to sleep at night. And, the other night, he was screaming at the top of his voice and, the baby monitor, which we have in our room, was just amplifying his shrill screams.

And, so I went in on this particular occasion, and he was curled up, at the bottom of his cots, the wrong end, with a full nappy, hungry, a snotty nose and an earache. And you just look at that image and you think he's not coping by himself. He's not he's not able to do literally anything to help himself. He can't feed himself, he can't wipe his nose, He can't sort his nappy out. He can't get rid of his earache.

He can't have the paracetamol even though it's only, you know, a yard away on top of the thing. He he's not coping. And that is what it's like, isn't it? He needs us for shelter and protection and care and food He needs us for everything, and that is the point Jesus is making. That is what it is like to be a follower of Jesus.

Not deluding ourselves, and pretending that we can cope without God, not deluding ourselves and thinking that we can survive without him He belongs to those who need a religious crutch. He belongs to those who haven't got a forensic scientific mind. Not to those who think they can cope without him. Instead, we need to look at ourselves through the other end of the binoculars. Not the end which makes us look huge and massive, but the end which makes us look small and helpless and vulnerable.

If we don't accept that, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And I think that despite all the arguments that people have against Christianity today, can't trust it. Bible's not true. Sciences ruled out god. Can't trust god.

Don't like the god we find. All these arguments that people have which do have good quest good questions and do have answers. I think this in the end is the real thing that keeps people out of the kingdom of heaven. We will not acknowledge that we are spiritually like little infants who need god for everything. We don't want to acknowledge that because we're strong.

So the point Jesus is making is here, is not that we should be childish in our thinking about things. That's not what it means to be a Christian, to be a childish thinker, but that we should be childish in our self assessment. We should recognize that apart from god, we can do nothing. And so Daisy and Chloe and Asher and Esther are telling us something this morning, They need their parents for everything. And unless we see that the same is true for us and god, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

So secondly, they teach us something about how to approach god. Thirdly, we can learn from them what's good for us. We can learn from these infants this morning what's good for us. And it's no secret if you've ever spent any time around babies, that all of them need milk of some kind. They all need milk of some kind, and it's for good reason.

I mean, the milk contains the nutrients that they need. It contains all the building blocks for life. It contains antibodies, which will protect them from disease. And, that that is really why, god has designed them to cry out for it. Sometimes loudly, and sometimes very loudly, sometimes almost constantly for hours and hours and hours, they They cry out for it.

They crave that which is going to make them strong. And we know that if you've spent any time around infants, at this stage, everything but food is irrelevant. They have this constant desire and craving for food, and that's not just true of human babies, it's something that is written into all of nature around us. I couldn't resist an article this week, entitled Why day old geese jump off cliffs? It's just hard to not to click, it's click bait, isn't it?

Why day old geese, jump off cliffs. And, it was an article about barnacle geese, in the Arctic cliffs, which, and, and they're just amazing, these baby barnacle geese, and, they've become my new, my new favorite animal. They're they're incredible. So their their parents make these nests high up in these barren rocky Arctic cliffs, hundreds of feet below, these, these grassy, pastures. And, they don't want to nest there because there's lots of arctic, foxes and wolves and so on.

So they go up high to be safe to have their young ones. But they need the stuff to, below in order to eat and to grow. And so what they do at the tender age of 24 hours old is these little babies just lobbed themselves off the side of the cliff in order to get the food and it's pretty dramatic watching. But thankfully most of them are light enough that they can just bounce off the rocks and it causes no no problems. But if they hit a particularly pointy rock, or they fall into the mouth of a fox, that knows this is happening, then it's disastrous.

But you just watch them and you think, what would drive a 24 hour old barnacle goose, to jump off a cliff. Well, it's craving for food. It craves that which is going to make it strong, that which it needs. Have a look at a little I I mean, I don't know if this is gonna work. I got a little gift of it.

Here. Oh, no. That's, that's the 1 before. That should have belonged to the previous. Let's see if it will come up.

It might is it not going to? That's irritating. Sorry. Oh, no. No.

There we go. That's it. Well, there we go. That's the main shot, anyway. You need.

You sort of get the point. I had a gift of it sort of jumping off and down, and, they they they're they're amazing things. And of course, these babies that we're looking at this morning you know, if they're hungry, they might, roll off a sofa or something if they see that there's food on the floor, but but it's nothing in comparison to to this. This craving for food which drives them. And the Bible says that we can learn from these geese and from these babies.

Have a look at 1 peter 2 verse 2. This is another, another book in the new testament talking to Christians here. Therefore rid yourselves of all malice, all seat, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander, like newborn infants desire the pure milk of the words. So that you may grow up into your salvation. Now in other parts of the bible, we're actually told that to stay on milk is bad.

And it would be bad, wouldn't it if we came back here in 10 years time, and all of these infants were still drinking milk exclusively? You would wonder what had happened, you would have expected them to graduate onto solid food. But in this particular illustration, it's a good thing. We ought to like newborn infants crave the milk. And so what is that milk?

Well, that milk is the word of god. The word of god has the same life giving qualities as milk. It contains the building blocks for new life in god's kingdom. The Bible tells us that it's the word of god which brings new life. It's the word of god which contains antibodies which protects us and guards us from evil.

It's the word of god which nourishes us and makes us grow strong. It's interesting, isn't it? When people haven't seen children for a while and they've grown up quite a lot, 1 of the things they say is Court, hasn't he hasn't she grown? What have you been feeding them? Food makes them grow.

Same is true for Christians. 1 of the clearest signs that a baby is alive and growing is they're craving for food. And 1 of the clearest signs that a Christian is alive is their craving for the word of god. When we hear these babies crying out for food, which we do, and we will, we've got quite a lot of babies here in the church. There's often crying out for food that goes on.

Instead of saying, somebody get these infants out of here, we should be saying, yes. And the food I need is the word of god. They are craving the building blocks of life I need to listen to the building blocks of life. So we should be very thankful to children who cry, very thankful to parents who allow them to cry for hours and hours because they're teaching us a spiritual truth. We ought to crave the pure milk of the word of God.

We ought to hear them and think without this, I'm gonna starve. Without the good news of Jesus and the word of his grace I'm gonna perish. We can learn from them what we need. Fourthly, we can learn what it's like to know god. I grew up with a friend, who called his mum by her first name.

And, it was very weird. We used to go home, and I would be hanging out this house or having tea, and his mom was called Louise. And, he would come in and say, alright, Louise? And he would say, what's for tee Louise? You know, what what, you know, how was your day, Luis?

And, he would just call her by his first name. And I never asked him about it, but I remember thinking it was very strange. He was the only friend I had who was like it, and he kept calling his mum by her first name. And I guess these kids that we've given thanks for this morning won't be doing that. I guess they are gonna grow up and they are gonna call their mom and dad, mum and dad.

Or mummy and daddy or some version of that. But why? Why don't they just call them by the first name? You know, why doesn't Lewis come in and say, alright, Steve? You know, what's with the, what's his inner state?

You know, why not? Alright, Neil? How how was your day, Neil? Know, do you have a you have a good day? Oh, hi, hi, you know, it would be strange, wouldn't it?

Why don't they call them by their first name? Well, because of their relationship. They've got a unique relationship. Everybody calls Steve Steve, or Steve. Or mister Conaird in some circles perhaps.

Everyone, you don't you don't have to you don't have to know him intimately to call him by those names. But there's only 2 people currently in all the world who can call him daddy. The relationship is important, isn't it? And so it is with god. God is the creator of all people, but he is the father of those who trust in Jesus.

Those who can call him dads are those who are part of the family of god. Here's another verse from the Bible. See what great love the father has lavished on us that we should be called children of god. That is what it means to know God. You can be called a child of God.

You can call him daddy. You can call him dad. It's a wonderful privilege, isn't it? And it's not just a kind of title or something that would be nice if it were true says, we shall be the children of God, and that is what we are. That is what you are.

If you're a follower of Jesus, you can know God as your dad. Now naturally, this is not something that we deserve, is it? Because the truth is every 1 of us has treated god like a stroppy teenager. We've run out of the house. We've slammed the door.

I wish you were dead. I'm going my own way. I don't need you anymore. My bags are packed. That's how we treat.

We know we've treated god like that. We haven't wanted to live in the family home. We haven't wanted to listen to him And for that, we don't deserve to be his children. We deserve his judgment. We deserve his judgment.

The way we treated him. I saw a very unfortunate tweet this week, and, I, I, I've got it, I've got it up on, up on the screen here. I think this must have been an accident. But, this was 2 books side by side in a bookshop. And, you know, I thought it was an interesting sort of placement.

And, god is not mad at you. He's just not that into you. It's just brilliant, isn't it? Now, this 1, he's just not that into you. It's not actually about god.

To be fair. It's about dating and how to, the the the no excuses truth to understanding guys. Sounds good, doesn't it? God is not that mad at you. He's just not that into you.

But both of those are wrong, aren't they? God is angry at us because we've sinned against him, but he also loves us and he is into us and he wants to welcome us back into the family. The Bible says this, in John's gospel, about Jesus. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, He gave the right to become children of god. Children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of god. 1 writer says that the word father explains the essence of Jesus' message and the effects of his work. Father is the essence of his message that we can know god as father.

And it's also because of his work on the cross shedding his blood for our sin that we can know him as father. It was the essence of his message and the effect of his work. And what does it mean again to be a child of god? Well, not just a relationship, as we've read in our in our readings this morning, it also means an inheritance Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of god and co heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings, in order that we may also share in his glory. See, part of being a child is having an inheritance.

Now for some of these babies, that will be a more exciting prospect than for others. You know, there may not be much coming to some of them. But the truth is for every child of god, there is a wonderful inheritance. We are co heirs with Christ. The Bible says that 1 day, Christ is gonna be the king of a brand new creation.

He is going to be confessed as lord by every tongue. He will receive all the rewards of his father. And if we are trusting in Jesus as our saviour, then we are co heirs with Christ. It's great news. And so again, as we look at these infants, As we look at these babies with their parents, it's a lesson for us.

If you trust in Jesus, You can know god in that way. You can use the intimate word, dad, because Jesus bled and died to make that possible for us. And if we look at them, we can think, yes, if I trust in Jesus, although I might have sufferings in this life, there is a great inheritance coming. So I'll leave you with that, but, perhaps just lastly, if you're here and you're not sure what you believe. Maybe you're, you, wouldn't really call yourself a Christian, and you're, you're just here, to to support the family.

It I just would love you just to remember Jesus' words this morning. Unless you turn and become like a little child, You cannot enter the kingdom of god. Are you living as if there was no creator, no god at the loom stitching and weaving things together? Are you living as if you could do everything without god? I'm not a child, an adult.

Don't need god? It's a children. Are you living without the word of god? Well, how are you gonna grow if you don't have the word of your creator? And are you here and you still don't know God as your father.

Well, Jesus gave his life to make that possible for you. And it would be wonderful if you could come to know the wonderful blessings and the wonderful lessons that these infants are trying to teach us this morning. There's closing prayer. Heavenly father, we thank you that you are our father, and we thank you that we can know you by that name. We thank you that the word father was the essence of Jesus' message, and it was the effects of his work.

Thank you that Jesus died and rose again for sinners like us. So that we could be welcomed into the family of god. Thank you again for these precious babies for Chloe and for Esther and ASHA and for Daisy. Thank you for the lessons that they have been trying to teach us this morning. Help us to hear them in Jesus' name.

Our men. Oh, man.