Proper 21 - G - 2011 - I Go Sir, For Christ Went First

Pentecost 15/Proper 21

9/25/2011

25:1-10

Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

Philippians 2:1-18

Matthew 21:23-32

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “The other son said, ‘I go sir,’ bud did not go.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  What Jesus describes here is a situation we are used to isn’t it?  Countless times when I was growing up, my father said to me, “Go and clean your room.”  My response was always the same, “FINE!” (Please note the groan).  I would go up into my room, and when my father would come to check on me a few hours later, I would be sitting and reading, or playing, and the room would be no cleaner than it was when I was sent to clean it. 

Don’t get me wrong, I had good intentions.  I really meant to clean my room.  I meant to follow through with my father’s wishes.  But for some reason, I was unable to carry out those good intentions.  I was unable to complete the task that was given to me.  How many of you parents have had similar discussions with your children.  How many of you have experienced similar situations in your own life with other things? 

The truth is, each and every one of us has done this in our relationship to our heavenly Father.  We have said, “I will do what you ask Lord.  I will serve you and you alone.  I will listen to your laws and I will help in your vineyard.”  And while these are good promises to make, while this is the righteous thing to say, we know friends they are only empty promises.  They are good intentions that we can never fulfill on our own.  For we are sinners, and sinners cannot do God’s will. 

Think about it in regards to any of the ten commandments.  “You shall remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”  Piece of cake, I can do that.  I am always at church.  Except for when I am camping, or out of town, or the Vikings are playing.  Or for me personally, when I am leaving on a two week Elk Hunting Trip.  Do you see, we make little exceptions for ourselves, and in them, we fail what our good intentions would have us do. 

What about another?  You shall not bear false testimony.  Seems simple enough.  And yet, it is so easy to let a little comment slip about someone else behind their back.  It is so easy to say, “Yes I will do something, only later to find out you cannot.  It is so easy to fail, because friends we are all sinners. 

And even in our church participation we fall short don’t we?  Today we are looking at our Stewardship of God’s gifts to us.  The way we use them to further the message of the Gospel.  It is easy for us to say, “Yes I will take time to help with that project.  Yes I will make an effort to help.”  But it is much more difficult to follow through in that regard.  It is easy to say, “Yes I will financially support the church, because it is important to me,” but as the weeks role by and the budget tightens, it is easy to fall short of our noble promises. 

This all stems from our sin, sin that constantly questions the authority of Jesus in our lives.  We question that what Jesus says is truth, really is at all.  We question that Jesus actually cares if we do follow through on our Christian promises to follow him, and to live a holy life.  “Its ok if I fudge on the rules a little isn’t it, its ok to not follow through on what I’ve promised, Jesus will understand right?” 

But ask yourself the question Jesus asks in our text today.  “Which of these two did the will of their father?”  Was it the one who said, “I go sir” but didn’t, or the one who said, “I will not” but did?  It was the one who said I will not.  You see it isn’t our promises that we trust, it isn’t our holy words and platitudes that make a difference to God.  He knows our hearts, he knows our sin.  On our own, we cannot be good stewards with God’s gifts at all, we cannot serve him in our guilt. 

So we must look to one who can, and who does, and who always will.  We must look first to Jesus, “God’s beloved Son with whom God was well pleased.”  He listened to God.  He followed God’s instruction.  He did what God desired, and it cost him his all.  Jesus told His Father, “I will save them from their sin, I will give up myself so that you may have them for yourself, a people chosen by God, holy and righteous in your sight.”  And when Jesus said these things, it wasn’t just good intentions, it wasn’t an empty promise, Jesus backed up his promise with his own blood. 

For Jesus’ obedience to God involved a cross on Golgotha.  It involved nails driven into his hands and feet, a spear piercing his side.  Jesus’ promise to rescue involved his death and burial.  But Jesus is no longer in the tomb.  He is risen indeed.  He rose and calls you all to faith in his name.  Faith that looks to his promises for you, faith that receives his gifts. 

And so friends, in your life of faith, you are not the son who says, “Yes I will go,” but doesn’t.  Rather you are the Son from our text who said, “I will not go,” but then went.  You serve your neighbor today, you serve your church today, because you have faith in a God who loves you and died for you.  You give of your time in church because Jesus gave his life up for you.  Even though in your sin you said no, you are free to work in the vineyard. To help those around the world, in Kenya, in Fargo, in other places around the world, and yes, even those here in this place.  In Jesus you may serve cheerfully, and help with projects and boards in this place.  Friends, you have been given Christ, and now may share him with the world. 

Will you go and work in the vineyard?  Friends, it doesn’t matter what you think, or what you want.  If you go, it is because Christ has first gone.  If you help, it is because Christ first helped you.  It is faith in Christ that makes all things possible.  Like the man in our text, we say “I Go sir, because Christ has gone first.”  Amen.  

Proper 20 - G - 2011 - Your Just Reward

Isaiah 55:6-9   Phillipians 1:12-14, 19-30       Matthew 20:1-16

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words:  “So the last will be first, and the first last.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  I want my just reward.  I want what I think I deserve.  This is the attitude of the man in our parable today.  He has agreed to work for the entire day for a set wage, one denarius.  He labors, working hard at his tasks for the day.  And as he works, others come in later in the day.  Some come in a few hours later, and some others even come in at the last minute, only an hour before the end of the day.  As this man works in the vineyard, he talks with those who are around him, and learns that they too have been promised a denarius.  The man begins to think about it.  If the man working only one hour receives a denarius, then don’t I deserve 12 times more?  After all, I have worked longer then they have.  I have been here a whole day, and they have only been here a few short minutes. 

As the man watches the late comers receiving their pay, he begins to imagine what he will do with his extra income.  He begins to imagine what things he will buy, what sort of food he will eat.  He tells himself he really deserves these things, after all the early bird gets the worm, and I was here first, so I should get a bonus for what I have done.   You can imagine the man’s surprise then when he receives his wage for the day’s work, the single denarius that he was promised at the beginning. 

That’s not fair, is it?  That shouldn’t be the way it works, should it?  If someone works longer, they should get more, shouldn’t they?  They should be more richly rewarded for their faithfulness.  And yet, the man in our text received exactly what he was promised, exactly what he agreed to.  He received his just reward.

And what of you, dear friends in Christ?  What does this say to you?  What message can you pluck from this tale that Jesus tells us?  Friends, the truth is that it is for us that Jesus speaks this parable.  It is for the situations that we are in.  We know what our hope is.  We know what our promise is.  We have received the Kingdom from Jesus, we have had our sins forgiven in the precious blood that flowed from the cross.  We have life, and life to the full.  And we have been promised heaven for living a life of faith here in this world. 

What a gift!  What a blessing.  For you see that life of faith isn’t even dependent on us.  It is a free gift that Jesus gives us.  Something we don’t deserve, something we don’t earn, something that is a blessing.   And yet, like the man in the parable, we believe we have earned it, and that it is ours to determine for ourselves.  And so just like the man in the parable, we often look down on those who are around us.  We like to compare ourselves with them, saying, “I am better than he is, aren’t I?  Come on Lord, don’t I deserve something better than that sinner over there.  I mean, I have done more good things for you, haven’t I?”

We are prideful people, aren’t we?  We do like comparing ourselves with others, because we are so good at seeing the speck in someone else’s eye.  We are so good at judging someone else to be guilty while ignoring the glaring sin in our own life.  I have been a Christian longer than you, so I have a greater say in this church.  I have done more good for our community, so listen to what I want.  I have sinned less than that poor miserable person there, so I am holier, aren’t I?  In all of these things, we put ourselves into the first and most important position, the position of power.  And so we grumble to the master of the house, Jesus, and say, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”

But “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” Friends, it isn’t about being better, it isn’t about deserving more.  Christianity isn’t about any of these things.  Being a Christian is about Jesus, the one who had all glory, power, and honor, and yet gave it up on your behalf.  As St. Paul writes in Philippians, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.   And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!”  Jesus puts himself in last place so that you can receive life.  He takes your deserved punishment upon himself so that you can receive his reward.  He dies, so that you may live.

And Jesus has made all Christians equal in his eyes in that he has given to all who confess his name eternal life.  It isn’t that Jesus is cutting you out, it isn’t that Jesus is taking away what you think you deserve.  No, Friends, Jesus is giving you the whole thing, and he gives it to those others who believe in him as well.  And because all that Jesus gives is a free gift, we are to receive it with thanksgiving, and with joy.  We are to look at those others who also receive the gifts of God with joy as well.  Look how much love your God has.  Look how he has lavished forgiveness upon all people who trust in him.  Look how much he has done for you, and your sin, and the sin of the whole world.  Look how he made himself last so that you could be first. 

It’s not fair.  It’s not the way it should work, is it?  God gives to all, including you, even when we don’t deserve it.  Amen.  

Ashley Weiser Mike Mauch Wedding - 9/17/2011

^{John 15:9} As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

 ¹² "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

^{Romans 12:9} Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

 ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.  Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.¹⁹Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." ²⁰To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

^{Matthew 7:24} "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today are the readings from earlier, especially the Gospel from Matthew, and these words, “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, especially Ashley and Mike.  It has been a long day in coming hasn’t it?  How many years ago did you first meet on a trip to the National Youth Gathering?  I know that there have been many ups, as well as some difficult times in your relationship.  But today you are here, today you pledge your faithfulness, your life, your love to one another.  Today the two become one flesh, and Ashley and Mike become Mr. and Mrs. Mauch, Husband and Wife,  joined together by God, and as Scripture says, “What God has joined together, let not man separate.”  God gives you to one another today and for the rest of your lives, until death do you part.

It is a happy day today isn’t it?  As you look ahead in your married life, I am sure you see wonderful times ahead.  Countless adventures will come your ways throughout your life as a married couple.  God will continue to bless your life, just as He is today.  He may give you children and grandchildren, He will always pour out his many gifts upon you. 

But just as certainly as there will be those happy times ahead, I promise you Mike and Ashley, there will also be more hard times.  There will be times where God tests you, times where you may not like each other as much as you do today.   You may face loss of loved ones, you may face sickness, times where you don’t seem to have enough money to make ends meet.  You will face frustrations and more.  This sinful world will not be easy, even for two as in love as you are.  For our sinful world doesn’t make distinctions for anyone, it tests all people the same, even those whose love for each other seems strong today. 

But none the less, you stand today before your friends and family, pledging to love one another, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer and all those other ones as well.  You are promising that you will take care of one another no matter what you face, you are promising here, now that you will stand strong as a couple, no matter what the world throws at you.  Even in the face of divorce, of hurt, or of fighting, you pledge to be faithful even to the point of death.

It seems a large promise doesn’t it?  How can you be sure?  How do you know that your marriage will be able to stand the test of time?  How do you know that your love will still be around in ten year, or twenty, or forty?  How can you be sure?

Mike, Ashley, as you and I have talked about, it is because your love is not the foundation for your marriage.  Yes, I know your love is what has brought you here today, but even your love is not the basis for your successful marriage.  Rather you have something stronger, something more powerful, something more amazing.  You have a foundation built of rock to build your marriage upon.  You have a Lord and Savior who loves you both more than you can realize.  You have a God who loved you each so much that He was willing to suffer and die for your sin, to forgive each of you.  And when you were forgiven, he rose again into life immortal. 

It is this foundation, the love of Christ for you, on which your marriage will be built.  Even as the rain falls and the flood waters gather, your marriage is strong in the promises of Jesus.  As you are angry with one another, you will be able to forgive because you were first forgiven.  There may be times where you are frustrated, perhaps Mike because Ashley wakes you up to go jogging when you want to sleep in, or perhaps Ashley because Mike is out hunting too much.  But you are forgiven in Jesus and free to forgive each other as well.  Even when someday the love you feel so strongly today is numbed by the years of your life, you can trust that in Jesus your marriage will be strong.  No not because of what you do, no not because of what you promise, but rather because of your strong foundation, Jesus crucified for your sins.  Its his love for you – FIRST and FOREMOST– that will get you through the years.  His love, the greatest love, the love that gives up itself on your behalf.  That is the foundation we remember today.  May God richly bless you in the many years of marriage that He grants you.  Amen. 

Holy Cross Sunday - OT - 2011 - Moses and the Serpent

Numbers 21:4-9          1 Corinthians 1:18-25             John 12:20-33

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today, Holy Cross Day, is the Old Testament lesson that was just read, especially these words, “So Moses made a bronze[a] serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Our Old Testament lesson seems foolish doesn’t it?  I mean, in all honesty have you ever heard of something so ridiculous as being healed from poisonous snake bites by looking up at a snake on a pole.  Sometimes when we hear things like this we automatically think they are foolish and silly.  We can’t believe that they actually happened, for it just defies our reasonable senses. 

But it did happen.  The Israelites were on there way to the promised land from Egypt.  They had passed through the Red Sea on dry land, even as Pharaoh’s army drowned in the water.  They had been led by a pillar of fire by day and a pillar of fire by night.  They had seen water come out of the rock.  They had witnessed countless miracles, and yet, they still doubted.  They still questioned who the god that led them was.  So God sent Fiery Serpents to test the Israelites, to test their faith.  These serpents bit the people, and many died. 

But as God sent these snakes, He also gave the people a way to be rescued.  He told Moses to make a bronze copy of the serpents that attacked the people.  Moses was to nail this bronze serpent to the top of a pole.  When someone was bitten by a snake, they could simply look up to the bronze serpent on the pole and they would be saved from the poison that was coursing through their veins.  They needed but keep their eyes on the serpent on the pole.  Yes it sounds silly, but that was the way the Israelites were saved. 

And when you think about it, it really isn’t only a tale about the Israelites is it?  It is also our story.  For we too are in the same situation.  No we aren’t in the literal Jordanian wilderness being attacked by poisonous serpents, but friends, we are in the wilderness of our sin, and we are constantly under the attack of that first fiery serpent, Satan.  He is the one who first said to Adam and Eve, “Did God really say?”  With these words, the poison of sin entered the veins of Adam and Eve.  And that same blood that flowed in their veins flows in your veins today.  For we still ask that same question.  We still doubt God’s word.  We still turn our backs on what God wants us to do, and how God wishes us to think. 

As we confess, with our fault, our own fault, our own most grievous fault, we have sinned against God.  We have done those things we shouldn’t do, and don’t do the things we should do.  We listen to that fiery serpent, and his poison courses through our veins.  And just like those Israelites in the wilderness, that poison would kill us if it were left to run its course.  WE would be doomed to a lonely death in the wilderness, except that God does give us a rescue. 

No we don’t have a bronze serpent on a pole.  Instead we have a man on a cross.  A man who is not only man, but also God.  This God man is nailed to the cross, just like the bronze serpent.  He is held up so that the whole world can see him, and his blood pouring out.  God says that looking to this sign will save you from you sin, looking to Jesus. 

But it seems foolish doesn’t it?  It seems silly and ridiculous that a man nailed to a cross could save us from the poison of sin.  Even St. Paul acknowledges this in our Epistle lesson,  “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  It seem ridiculous.  How could one man’s death save us from our sin?  How could looking to this man bring us out of death into life?  The world hears this message and laughs saying, “I would rather die a death of sin than to trust in a man who dies a criminal’s death on a cross.”  They laugh at us.  They tell us we are stupid.  Countless times people have told me they don’t believe in all that “Christian Baloney”. 

But friends, the message of the cross, is the power of God for your salvation.  It is the hope that you don’t need die, but can experience something more, something wonderful, something eternal.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man.  Or in other words, the stupidest, dumbest thing that God ever did is millions of times less foolish than the wisest thing you can figure out. 

Christ on the cross does bring healing to you.  Just as those who looked to the bronze serpent were saved, those who look to Jesus will be saved.  The God Man will die for all your sins.  He will suffer nailed to a cross, a pole, so that he may draw you to himself.  He will bring you to the faith that looks to him and boldly declares to a laughing world, “There is my hope and salvation.  In Jesus alone do I trust.”  And in this faith God gives you heaven.  In this faith even though you die, yet shall you live.  For it is the message of the cross, Jesus on the cross that is the center of salvation.

Today we celebrate that hope.  Today we remember that message.  Today we tell the world, You may think we are fools, but we are fools going to eternal life.  Today is Holy Cross Day, the day we look to the cross of Jesus, just as the Israelites looked to the bronze serpent.  We look to the cross, and we lift it high in faith that trusts in the death of Jesus.

For even as Jesus dies on the cross, so too did he raise from the dead on the third day.  And as we look to the cross we also look to the empty tomb, the hope of the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.  Friends, just as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness, so too must the Son of Man be lifted up.  And as he is lifted up, he draws all people to himself, he draws you, he draws me, and gives them eternal life.  Look to the cross, in it you have hope.  Amen.  

St. John's Work Begins

Work Begins on St. John's Building Project.  

Foundations are poured

Windows that were vandalized are replaced

Work will continue!

Proper 18 - G - 2011 - Childlike Faith in Jesus

^{Ezekiel 33:7-9                Romans 13:1-10              Matthew 18:1-20}

Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. Our text today is the gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  School has started, and this week at Immanuel (Next week at St. John’s) Sunday school starts as well.  The confirmation kids are ready for another year of work, and LYF will soon as well.  How appropriate then to have a text that says, “whoever humbles himself like a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”  How great to hear how faith like that of a little child is so necessary. 

You see Jesus is saying that we need faith like a little child, faith that believes wholeheartedly, without question, without reservation.  Faith that knows and trusts that Jesus is exactly who he says he is. 

Unfortunately for so many of us we have been taught to be skeptical.  We have been taught to have our doubts about scripture and what it teaches.  For so many of us, that childlike faith that believes without questioning has been explained away through the years. 

Throughout our lives, we are told that religion is just a big pile of hooey, that it can’t possibly be true, and that everything has a natural cause.  The world was created after a mysterious big bang that exploded billions of years ago.  We are given countless “scientific” guesses that are supposed to disprove what we believe. 

We are told there is no such thing as a god, for if there were there would be no pain, no hunger, no hurt, and no sin.  Or if there is a god, that he must not be the Christian god, that any other god would be better than the one we confess.  There are even people out there who wrongly say that we all worship the same god only in different ways. 

There are so many different view points, and different ideas, that so many people now have thrown there hands up in the air and said, “I just don’t know.”  I can’t figure it out.  I feel like there should be something, but I can’t tell what it is.  And through all of these things, our childlike trust and faith becomes a healthy adult skepticism. 

All of these opinions that are floating around are the result of Satan’s work in this world.  Friends, Satan doesn’t want you to trust Jesus.  He doesn’t want you to look to him, but spends all of his time and efforts trying to get you to believe in anything else.  He wants you to trust in science.  He wants you to trust in politics, and opinions.  He wants you to trust in your money and your intelligence.  He wants you to take your eyes off of Jesus because he doesn’t want you to be saved. 

You see Satan is the epitome of sin.  He is so self-centered and selfish that he doesn’t want to spend eternity in torment alone, he wants you to come too.  He wants you to abandon your faith, and instead to give in to your own desires.  And we do give in to our desires don’t we?  Our hand causes so many of us to sin as our children hit their brothers and sister, as we steal things from places we shouldn’t.  Our hand causes us to sin as it runs the remote or the mouse going to websites we shouldn’t.  Our eye causes us to sin as it ogles the opposite sex, and as it covets the things those around us have.  In all of these things we lack childlike faith and instead have our own adult pride, pride that says, “I can decide for myself.”

But Jesus calls us today to a childlike faith, a faith that looks to him alone.  A faith that hears what Jesus has done, and firmly and unswervingly trusts that Jesus did what he did for me, and for my sins.  Friends, Jesus came, whether you believe it or not, he came and was a sacrifice for you.  Instead of giving into his own selfish desires, he did what God desired him to do.  Instead of being skeptical of God’s existence, he trusted that God would raise him from the dead.  Jesus had that childlike faith that so many of us lack, and so Jesus fulfilled this will of God completely. 

That involved a sacrifice.  It involved pain, it involved payment for sin at an old rugged cross.  And as Jesus gives up his own life, He calls you to faith.  He speaks to you, and says be mine, believe in me with all your heart and you soul and your mine.  And Jesus doesn’t just demand this faith from you expecting you to do it on your own.  He knows you can’t.  Jesus calls you, and then gives you the means to actually believe in him. 

Jesus comes to you, while you are still dead in your skepticism.  He comes to you before you can even do anything for yourself.  He comes to you in baptism.  There is no better example of childlike faith than baptism, where when you were too small to even do anything for yourself, he came to save you, and gave you all the gifts of eternity.  When Jesus came to you in baptism, he promised that you would believe and not waver.  And Jesus still comes to you in bread and wine saying, here I am for you and for your forgiveness.  Here I am.  Belive in me. 

Friends Jesus is there whether we want him to be or not.  He is there because he promised to be, and now he calls us to believe with childlike faith, faith that looks to him alone for forgiveness.  A Childlike faith looks without doubt.  A childlike faith looks and believes even if it cannot be proved or explained.  A childlike faith can only come from Jesus, and it is that faith that he gives you here today.  Jesus says, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  You have entered heaven.  Amen.