Where is your Rhoda? You need a “little one”. 11 Indispensable Relationships You Can’t Be Without! Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Ray of Hope Christian Church

Acts 12:11-17

Children are just people in the process of getting older, vulnerable people learning to be human, and wise children know that being men and women is much more interesting and complicated than the state in which they are temporarily stuck. A.S. Byatt

Jesus chose a baby face as faith’s gold standard -Mark 10:13-16

Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

You need a Rhoda. Who is your Rhoda? You need a “little one”!

"Children are the most wholesome part of the race, the sweetest, for they are fresh from the hand of God.” -Herbert Hoover

“Children are a blessing from God.” Each child comes,” asserts Tayne, “with the message that God is not yet discouraged with humans“.

“Sons and daughters are a heritage from the Lord, children are a reward from him.” -Psalms 127:3

Who in the world is Rhoda anyway?

Ask and you shall receive, knock and the door shall be opened, seek and you will find. - Matthew 7:7

Sometimes it takes a child to point out the obvious.

A little child will lead them!

Why would Jesus chose a child as the standard of faith?

Because they are innocent, pure, more truthful or trusting?

Up until the Enlightenment, large numbers of children toiled in the worse possible places (mines, fields, sweatshops, etc).

Little ones were considered “worthless, insignificant, despised, degraded and neglected.”

But, in the Gospel of Jesus, “little ones to Him belong; they are weak but He is strong”.

“Children first” was the Jesus motto because in the Kingdom of God the “last shall be first.”

A distinction needs to be made between being “childlike” and “childish”. The two are vastly different. A childish faith needs to have an answer and needs it now.

“A childlike faith trusts the one in charge, not understanding it all but loving or honoring the one in charge.”

Do not be children in your thinking; be babes in evil, but in thinking be mature. - I Corinthians 14:20 RSV

Each of us needs a Rhoda.

Jesus weaves three mantles of spiritual maturity around our Rhoda relationships: One affirmation- “Let the little children come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven”-occurs right after Jesus discusses and justifies his own childlessness and singleness. One affirmation- “Let the little children come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven”-occurs right after Jesus discusses and justifies his own childlessness and singleness. The second time Jesus singled out a relationship with a child as the defining ideal for faith took place after the disciples were bickering with one another over who was “the greatest”. The second time Jesus singled out a relationship with a child as the defining ideal for faith took place after the disciples were bickering with one another over who was “the greatest”. The third time the special status of children was reinforced was in one of the harshest warnings Jesus ever uttered The third time the special status of children was reinforced was in one of the harshest warnings Jesus ever uttered

Discussion: What is it about childhood that is so vital to our entrance into the Kingdom of God?

It is a child’s fascination for and loves for stories, once upon a time… that give us the key!

Children’s literature shares five reoccurring themes that we find in children’s literature that are the five reasons where we need Rhoda’s in our lives. Feeling Like a Kid by Jerry Griswold

Your relationship with Rhoda will keep you snug, scared, small, light and alive.

Rhodas keep us Snug!

Rhodas keep us scared!

Rhodas keep you small!

Rhodas keep you light!

Rhodas keep you Alive!