(Christian Living Sermon) Hillside 8/97
Filename: Kindergarten Truths

"WE LEARNED IT IN KINDERGARTEN"

INTRODUCTION--- Newspapers are generally vital one day, and trash the next. There was a little newspaper article written over ten years that has been remembered, and has been quoted by many in the last decade, because it held such a powerful truth. The author, Robert Fulghum, was commenting on the decline of morals in our society, when he said we should have learned how to live from our experiences in Kindergarten. He wrote:

"Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandbox.
These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Live a balanced life. Learn some, and think some, and draw and sing and play and work every day some.
Take a nap in the afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up, and nobody knows why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish die, and hamsters and white mice and even a little seed in a plastic cup--- they all die. So do we.
And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: look. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology and politics and sane living.
Think of what a better world it would be if we all had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations always to put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes. And it still is true, no matter how old your are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together."

LESSON-- This is a very provocative piece of writing. When you are reading it, you have the feeling, "Yes it would be a better world, if every person would apply the lessons of the Kindergarten." Society has its rules, and the "good of society" is found in such rules.

But there is something sad in this article, also. We have a feeling that the writer longs for a time when society honored such basic rules. He sees that society has forsaken them (or forgotten). An important consideration is missing from this article, as well. The author does not comment on the fact that rules cannot be made fast in the hearts of those learning them, unless there is respect for the authority behind them.

The authority behind Kindergarten rules rests on respect for the age, experience, and size of the kindergarten teacher. But for the Christian, there no authority higher, or one more worthy of respect, that God's. His rules are in the Bible--the WORD to be OBEYED.

1. The moral rules of Kindergarten are little different from the rules of God.
   
   1. "Share everything." Hebrews 13:16 "But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."
      
   2. "Play fair."
      
      1. Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?"
         
      2. Romans 13:8-10 "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
         
   3. "Don't hit people."
      
      1. John to soldiers. Luke 3:14 "And soldiers also asked him, saying, And we, what must we do? And he said unto them, Extort from no man by violence, neither accuse any one wrongfully;......"
         
      2. Paul on Bishops. Titus 1:7 "For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money."
         
      3. Paul to all Christians. Romans 12:18 "If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men."
         
   4. "Put things back where you found them," and "Clean up your own mess." This is similar to Christ's approval of the principle of restitution. Luke 19:8-9 "Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;'"
      
   5. "Don't take things that aren't yours." Ephesians 4:28 "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need."
      
   6. "Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody." Matthew 5:23-24 "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

2. Even the aesthetic rules of the Kindergarten are compatible with God's.
   
   1. "Wash your hands before you eat." (Jesus put a deeper meaning to this.) Matthew 15:17-20 "Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."
      
   2. "Live a balanced life." (Compare the "balance" in these two verses.)
      
      1. Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?"
         
      2. Deuteronomy 10:12-13 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?"
         
   3. "Learn, think, work some every day." Colossians 1:9-10 "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;..."
      
   4. "When you go out into the world,---hold hands and stick together." (Jesus knew the wisdom of companionship when embarking into the world.) Mark 6:7-13 "And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff--no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts-- but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics. Also He said to them, "In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. "And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!" So they went out and preached that people should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them." (Identical instructions to the "70" are seen in Luke 10.)
      
   5. "Be aware of wonder." (Nature and God's laws of nature are full of wonder.)
      
      1. Psalm 19:1-6 "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat."
         
      2. Romans 1:20-21 "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened."
         
   6. "Goldfish die, and hamsters and white mice and even a little seed in a plastic cup----they all die. So do we." (But there is life after death!!)
      
      1. Hebrews 9:27-28 "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."
         
      2. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming."
         
   7. "And then remember...the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK!" (There are important things for the Christian to look for...)
      
      1. James 1:25 "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."
         
      2. Ephesians 5:15-17 "Look therefore carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
         
      3. 2 Peter 3:11-13 "Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

APPLICATION-- These "Kindergarten Rules" come alive in the Word of God, and we must keep them sacred in our hearts, in the fear and love of the Lord.