Laurie Vanden Heuvel has pursued special study in the matter of church education. This is her second article in a series on Feed My Lambs. She writes: “Every one of us is a teacher. If we are silent about the things of the Lord, we are still teaching—teaching indifference or hostility to the things of the Lord.” The mother of five children and the mistress of the manse at the large First Christian Reformed Church of Chino, California, at which her husband, Thomas C. Vanden Heuvel, is the pastor. Mrs. Vanden Heuvel also finds time for extra activities such as the writing of these articles.
Feed My Lambs – The Lambs
The scene was a hillside in Judea where Jesus sat teaching and answering questions. Suddenly, children broke the solemnity of the hour to clamor for a blessing and a prayer. Impatiently the disciples urged them to be gone; but Jesus, angry with their lack of vision and insight, laid His hands on the little ones and said, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Mark 10:14 and 15).
A short time later, after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus cleansed the temple to the accompaniment of children’s voices who sang, “Hosanna to the son of David!” The chief priests and scribes who had been deaf all these months to the clang of coins in the temple, were suddenly sensitive to and angry with these voices of children. Jesus responded: “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou has perfected praise!”
In both of these episodes, Jesus brushed aside apparent inconvenience to expose the true value of these children.
1. From Jesus we learn that children are important because children are bought with a price. To Peter, Jesus said “Feed My lambs.” To the disciples Jesus said, “Suffer little children to come unto Me.” Those wiggly, wiry, taunting, threatening creatures who sit before us from week to week, are Christ’s lambs, and as such they deserve our deepest prayers and most careful cHarts in the art of teaching.
Someone is sure to suggest at this point that we are here discussing only covenant children and not those who come to us from the community. Let me respond with a true story.
A missionary friend of ours relates his experience at a missionary training school in Chicago in this way. Having accepted a call to one of our Christian Reformed mission fields, our friend enrolled at this training school. In one of the missionary‘s first classes, the professor cast a meaningful glance over at Mr. Christian Reformed and said, “Now I want everyone to know that no consistent Calvinist can really do mission work. Calvinists, you see, believe in election so they feel that it is God alone who chooses and brings in His flock.” Thinking he had scored a telling victory over Mr. Christian Reformed, the professor went on, “Now I want you all to understand too, that you will find discouragements on the mission field. You will preach to large crowds but only some will respond favorably.” Mr. Christian Reformed rose to his feet: “Precisely, Professor, precisely. Only those whom God elects will respond favorably. Acts 13:48 says, ‘And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed!’ It’s because the Calvinist believes in election that he can go on missionary service with confidence that out of seed he sows, God will give the increase.”
We must demonstrate and teach the love of God to community children as well as to our own covenant youth. And we need not worry about the results. God will give the increase as He sees fit on the seed we sow. But sow—we must.
2. From Jesus we learn that children are important too because children have an eternal destiny. Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” These little creatures have an immortal soul which God gives them from the womb and will require from them at the end of their earthly journey. It is our responsibility to instruct and inspire them between those two events so that one day when they stand before their Maker, He will not turn to us and say, “You have been slothful in your task. You have allowed the cares and pleasures of the world to take priority over the training of this little one and you have caused him to stumble by your offensive conduct. Better were it for you if a millstone had hung around your neck and you had sunk to the bottom of the sea. Depart from me. I don’t know you.”
3. From Jesus we learn also that children are important because children are designed for service. Jesus said, “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained praise.” From a human point of view the church is always just one generation away from extinction. But praise God for His faithfulness in raising up in each generation those who teach young children how to love God, how to serve Him in every area of life.
Everyone of us is a teacher. If we are silent about the things of the Lord, we are still teaching—teaching indifference or hostility to the things of the Lord. How much better to obey Christ’s command, “Feed my lambs” with instruction and inspiration from His Word which alone sheds “light upon our path.”
How shall we feed them?—a question for next time.