In The Garden
"When Christians Get In the Way"
Pastor Wayne Clabaugh

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Scripture: "Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence." Mat 19:13-15

Can you believe it? It wasn't the Sanhedrin, it wasn't the secularists, it was his own disciples who rebuked those seeking a touch from the Master.

Did you hear that? It was his inner sanctum, the very called of God Himself, who rebuked those who were seeking a touch from the Master.

Has that ever happened in your church? Have you seen that teen-ager or that elderly person pushed aside because they needed special attention or special care and so the "inner sanctum" the very "called of God" tried to keep them from the main-stream so as to not slow down progress or cause any trouble.

But, look at what the Lord's response was.

"Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

It was not that they were just precious and adorable as all little children are... they represented what He sought for throughout all of Judea: a soul that simply trusted. A heart that was open to love, and a mind that was filled with wonder and amazement of every blade of grass and every wiggle of a puppy dog's tail.

What's more, He didn't just chide his disciples as a political gesture like some we would see today. The Bible says that He "...laid his hands on them," and as anyone who loves children, I'm sure he hugged them and maybe even kissed one or two of them. It was probably one of the happier moments that anyone would ever have  witnessed in Jesus entire ministry.

Some Christians mean well - just as Jesus' Disciples did. They get "involved" with the work of the lord and they get "involved" with the program and catch the vision of the Pastor or even the project itself. Their name is on the line, maybe in some churches their very faith will be marked by how well they perform in this task and to have to deal with "extras" such as those pesky troubled teens or those feisty old-timers, well, that's just not going to work. Can I tell you as a Pastor for some 30 years, it was those who cared more about the people than the project that I always admired. That's what it's all  about anyway. If you have a church for any other reason - CLOSE IT DOWN!

I'll never forget a little church my wife and I were Pastoring and we only were having 25 to 30 in Sunday School every Sunday so we decided to have a "Walk for Jesus" and we planned a big doings complete with press release for a walk around several city blocks with banner and signs and brochures to hand out - inviting the kids of the neighborhood to Sunday School.

In our church group, we had a little boy who had a prosthetic leg. I never did know what happened to that leg and why it had been removed or how... because he was such a "Beamer". It didn't matter what was going on in his life - he was like a ray of sunshine. Well, when we started talking about this walk... Tommy was all excited and he of course, he wanted to go too! But everyone thought it would be best if Tommy stayed behind. Well - he was having none of that and neither was I. My wife got special permission from his parents to go along and they were cautious but "trusting". I mean, how do you say no to such a good-looking Pastor? (smile) More importantly, how do you say no to "The Beamer"?

Off we went that bright and sunny Sunday morning and Tommy, "The Beamer" was walking along side me just smiling all the way. He caught on to my battle-cry... "Follow us to Sunday School" and all of a sudden... he was outdoing me. We had walked about two blocks and little Tommy was all aglow - and then it happened. He caught his prosthetic on a raised piece of concrete and down he went. He rolled twice and off came his leg and all of the kids that were following us started laughing. The little Beamer... wasn't beaming anymore. I got down and said, "You alright little buddy?" He said, "Yeah". I knew he was embarrassed, so I quickly tried to help him reattach that leg. Problem was... it went all the way up through his pant-leg, through the waist band of his pants and over his shoulder and it wasn't fixable without taking his pants off. His parents quickly wanted him to come with them and get him off the street... and I asked them, "Can I take him?" "Just Trust me."

Everyone knew he had the prosthetic now and there was nothing more to laugh about for the kids when they seen little Beamer crying... so I hoisted him up on my shoulders and we started walking again calling again, "Follow us to Sunday School...", "Follow us to Sunday School..." and I saw this shadow like a bird or a bat or something over my head so I looked up the best I could - and here's "little Beamer" with His prosthetic leg waving it around and screaming, "...follow us to Sunday School".

We had 96 in Sunday School that week and 106 the following week and Tommy... "little Beamer", seemed to be everyone's favorite! I don't know why not - his presence made that whole Walk for Jesus Rally a Success! 

Friend - never underestimate what God can do in someone's life. I've known some fire-cracker Grannies that could work rings around most kids and then go for a swim. In fact, I'm married to one. Never underestimate what God can do with what may look like failure to you. Always remember... man's extremity is God's opportunity. And with God... opportunity is always knocking.

Let's pray.

Father God: I thank you for those times in my life when all of the pieces just seem to fall together. But even more than that Lord... I thank you for all of those times when the hopelessness of the situation is lifted simply by love and the courage of one of those that others may have thought was expendable or unusable. Father I thank you for little "Beamer" Tommy - I'm sure he's grown and has children of his own... and I pray Lord that you would bless all of the Tommy's in the world - all of the "Beamers" who dare to try and dare to hold fast to faith alone. Father speak to someone's heart today to know that if little Beamer could make something out of probably one of the most embarrassing moments of his life... that they too can get up - wash off their face and get busy for you too. We'll give you all of the praise and glory for it, In Jesus Name I Pray, Amen.