Are
You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
Mark
10: 13-16 October 4, 2009
Today I’ve titled our
message, “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” I think most of you are probably familiar
with that TV show where they ask the contestants questions that they should
have learned by the time they reached the 5th grade.
Are you smarter than a 5th
grader? For example;
1. In what month do we observe Columbus Day? October
2. A
heptagon is a shape with how many sides?
Seven
3. In
what state is Mount Rushmore located?
South Dakota
4. How
many teaspoons are in 5 tablespoons? 15
– 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon
As
the contestants end up losing, which most of them do, they are asked to look at
the camera and state emphatically, “My name is _________ and I am NOT smarter
than a fifth grader.”
Well,
when I was studying our scripture this week, it donned on me, when it comes to
our knowledge of the Bible, there are so many areas where people should know
better, they should have learned by now how to live their lives, yet they
continue to stumble and fall, and get it all wrong.
In our scripture, we’re
told that people were bringing little children to Jesus in order that he might
touch them and bless them… Again, the
disciples thought they knew what was best for Jesus so they tried to hinder and
stop the children from getting to Jesus…
But when Jesus saw what
was going on, the Bible says in verse 14, “that Jesus was indignant and said to them,
“Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as
these that the kingdom of God belongs.
Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a
little child will never enter it.” And
Jesus took the little children in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed
them.”
Jesus said that we must
come to him and receive the kingdom of God as a little child… Obviously, a little child knows how to relate
to the kingdom of God; so I ask you this morning, “Are you smarter than a 5th
grader?”
You know, I think I could
do a sermon series on this… I noticed
that our lectionary for next Sunday is about the Rich Young Ruler and maybe I
could do a message on “Are You Smarter than a Rich Man” and then another one
“Are You Smarter than a Disciple” and then another one on “Are You Smarter than
a Pharisee” and I could probably just go on and on…
But today, I’m talking
about “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader” and I’m looking at the
concept of having a childlike faith…
Because it is faith that
Jesus calls us to… Our faith is our understanding, our belief, and our trust in God
through Jesus Christ… And most of us
have that faith at one time but we grow old and we lose our childlike faith –
and that’s a bad thing.
Illus: Some of my fondest memories of Sunday school
are the Bible stories that my teacher shared with us… We learned about Daniel and the lion’s den,
Jonah and the whale, David and Goliath, and so many more great stories…
And as a child it was easy
for me to believe these stories and be inspired by these stories. And let me say that I still believe these
Bible stories to be facts, things that really happened, but that’s because I
learned them as a child.
But some people are too
cynical to believe that these Bible stories are real… They say that there’s no way a lion would
pass up a perfectly good dinner named Daniel…
Or there’s no way in the world a person could survive for three days in
the belly of a big fish… Or there’s no
way a little boy with a slingshot could take down a giant named Goliath,
besides, there’s no such thing as giants…
Well, the people that
don’t believe these stories have lost their childlike faith – they have grown
older and their faith has grown difficult… I don’t think the question is
whether or not these are true stories, I think the question becomes, how did we
lose our childlike faith and optimism in God, and more importantly, can we get
it back?
Jesus was teaching his
disciples that is was people who have faith like a child that are going to
inherit the kingdom of God! And he
lifted up a child in his arms and basically said, “Learn from this child.”
What does it mean to have
the faith of a child? Well, first of
all, CHILDREN BELIEVE WHOLE-HEARTEDLY
THAT GOD IS REAL, AND THAT HE CAN DO ANYTHING HE DESIRES…
I don’t know what it is
about children but they have no problem believing that there is a God and that
God can do anything… They believe in God
and they believe God is powerful… And
they may not understand it or be able to comprehend it or explain it but it’s
something they believe…
But unlike some childish
concepts, this one is Biblical and grounded in truth… for Jeremiah 32: 17 says,
“There
is nothing too difficult for God…”
And a child like faith
takes that verse of scripture at face value, but for some reason we begin to
question that truth as we grow older…
Let me explain what I
mean… Most of us have no problem
believing that God makes the trees grow and the grass green, He makes the sun
shine and the rain fall… But we waver
when it comes to the everyday life things…
Can God really help me raising my kids, dealing with my boss, or
overcoming an illness? Is He powerful
enough to do that? A child-like faith,
the Bible, and history says, “Absolutely He has the
power to do that…”
God has more power than we
can imagine… Just open your Bible to the
very first book… look
at the creation story… When God created
the earth He didn’t labor and labor and labor…
He did one thing – He spoke it – He just said a word and it was
done…
He said let there be light
and there was light… Let there be land
and there was land… Let there be vegetables, animals, and mankind and there
was… And He did it just by speaking
it…
That’s power! Wouldn’t you like to have that kind of
power? Of course you would… The power to speak things into being – some
of us would look at our old cars and say, “Let there be Cadillac’s…” Or we would look at ourselves in the mirror
and say, “Let there be a figure.” Or,
you might look at your husband and say…
But folks, we don’t have
that kind of power… because there is only one being with that kind of
power… He is Almighty God…
God’s power cannot be
denied… Listen to these words from
Romans 1: 20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His
eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from
what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
What that means is all you
have to do is look around you… This
afternoon take the time notice the sunset, look at the trees, and take in
creation. And when you do you’re going
to be reminded of God’s existence and God’s power…
Everything around us
points to an awesome God… Let it remind
you of that child-like faith that believes in an all-powerful God.
But not only does a
child-like faith believe that God can do anything, but it also believes that GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING.
It’s a child’s
understanding that you can’t hide anything from God… And once again, that’s a
concept that’s grounded in Biblical truth…
Hebrews 4: 13 says, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from
God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and
laid before the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.”
Now when the Bible says
that God is all-knowing, it’s not saying that He’s pretty smart. It’s not saying that He would do pretty well
on “Are you Smarter than a 5th grader.” To say that God is all knowing is to say that
there is nothing in this world, nothing in the past, nor nothing in the future
that He does not know.
Psalm 147: 5 says that the
understanding of God has no limits.
None! There is nothing He does
not comprehend.
Illus: 1 John 3: 20 says simply, “He
knows everything.” Now I’ve
known some know it alls in my life… or at least some people that thought
they did… And do you know what else they
think? They think because they know it
all, the world revolves around them and you can’t tell them anything.
Illus: It’s like the woodpecker that was pecking
away at a tree… suddenly lightning hit the tree and
split it in half… The woodpecker flew
off saying, “Look what I did!”
But can I tell you that
there is only one person that really does know it all – and the world does
revolve around Him, and that’s God – God knows everything.
God can see our past, He
can see our present, and He can see our future… and He sees it all at the same
time… And kids know that, but for some reason
that understanding fades as we grow older… And that’s too bad…
And I’ll tell you why it’s
too bad… It’s too bad because we begin
to think that we can hide things from God… but there is nothing that we can hide
from God… He knows everything about us
and the good news is; He still loves us!
They say a good friend is
one who knows all about you and loves you anyway… I want to tell you this morning that God
knows everything about you, every thought, every deed, every sin,
everything… And He loves you anyway… Children know that – Children believe
that… And many of us need to rediscover
that…
But the last point I want
to make is this; not only does a child-like faith believe that God is all
powerful and that He knows everything, but a child-like faith also believes
that GOD IS EVERYWHERE…
Children believe
that! They understand that God literally
is everywhere. Wherever you are God
is… Wherever you aren’t God is… Children understand this fact about God and
again, it’s Biblical…
Listen to what David said
in Psalm 139… He said, “If I
go up to the heavens you are there. If I
make my bed in the depths you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn… or if I settle on the far side of the
sea, even there Your hand will guide me.”
Friends, Up, down, near,
or far, God is there with us… For God is
everywhere… And that’s important for us
to know… Because it means that when we
go through the bad times in life – guess what?
God is there with us… That should
touch us all…
There’s an old saying that
says, “There’s a broken heart in every pew.”
And I’ve found that to be true…
No matter what you’re
having to go through in life, the loss of loved ones, health problems,
financial problems, relationships, addictions…
whatever it is, God is with you…
never leaving you and never forsaking you…
Psalm 56: 8 says, “You
know my wanderings; You put my tears into a bottle; You
record them in Your book…”
Church, God catches every
tear that we cry, and He puts them in a bottle, and makes a record of it in His
personal diary… Wow!
But not only is God with
us through our hardships, He is with us in our victories as well… You see, nothing is hidden from God… God knows our victories, He knows our
successes… And He knows every good deed
that we do that nobody else sees… And He
records them too, and makes a note of all of our good deeds… And Jesus said that there will be rewards for
us in heaven for our good deeds…
I’ve got to bring this to
a close… It’s a child-like faith that
understands and believes in a God who can do anything, sees everything, and is
always everywhere… Unfortunately, as we
grow older, we forget these simple facts…
We in the church need to
get back to that pure understanding of God…
We need to see God for who He is…
For He is a God who is with me everywhere I go… He is a God who sees and cares about every
facet of my life… But more importantly,
He is a God who knows that you and I live in a sinful world, and we can’t
overcome the debts of our sins, so He’s a God who sends us a savior named
Jesus…
Children understand
that… Children have a faith that trusts
in Jesus Christ, trusts in an all powerful, all knowing, and ever present
God… That’s a pure faith that we all
need to rediscover…
Friends, when it comes to
our faith in Jesus and our faith in God, Are You Smarter than a 5th
Grader?
Let’s pray!