Children: Given to Us to Give Back to God
TEXT: Psalm 127:3: – “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.”
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – In this life there are certain important events which we often refer to as “rites of passage”—which are basically important first experiences in our lives.
• There’s when you went off to school for the first time.
• Then when you turned 16, you went to the local Driver’s License office to take your written test and then your driver’s test, and if you passed them both, they took your photo and put it on a card, laminated it and handed you your driver’s license. – That’s one of the most momentous rites of passage in our lives because it’s the first time we really start to feel grown up as a child.
• There’s the first time you voted; your first car; your first date; your first kiss; your wedding day; and the birth of your first child.
Rites of passage. And then as your kids grow up, you get to go through each of those rites of passage again with each of your children.
Today is a very important rite of passage: The day several parents dedicate their children to the Lord.
We’ve already seen the biblical basis for child dedication during the ceremony itself. I mentioned in passing the story of Elkannah and Hannah who gave their son, Samuel, back to the Lord, and now I’d like to elaborate on that story a little: Hannah had been distraught because she had not been able to have a baby.
One day at the altar, she prayed earnestly with tears of anguish and longing that God would open up her womb and give her a child. She promised God that if He would give her a child, she would give him back to the Lord. So troubled was she—mumbling this prayer at the altar almost in an almost uncontrollable state of distress and tears running down her face—that Eli, the priest, rebuked her for being drunk at the altar. But she responded by pouring her heart out to the man of God, who, after hearing the cry of her soul, gave her a blessing instead of a rebuke.
By the time Hannah had left the temple, she was at peace with the Lord. Whether God gave her a child or not, she was at peace with God’s will in her life.
Well, the Bible says God did open up her womb and she did have a child. When it was time to dedicate Samuel to the Lord, Elkannah talked to Hannah about it, but she said, no, she didn’t want to dedicate him to the Lord just yet. She asked to wait until she had weaned him because she meant to do exactly what she had pledged to the Lord, that if He would give her a child, she would literally give him back to the Lord to live and grow up and serve in the temple itself.
And just as she had promised, when she had weaned him, she and Elkanah brought Samuel to the temple where Eli slew a bullock in accordance with the Law of Moses. At this point, Eli did not remember who she was. But then she said this in 1 Samuel 1:26-28 “…Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD. 27 For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: 28 Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.”
Now let that passage be a counterpoint to our text: “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” Children in God’s estimation are not a burden. They’re A HERITAGE and they’re a REWARD. In other words, they are special GIFTS to us from God.
Now let me share with you three truths about these little gifts from the Lord:
I. FIRST, THEY’RE TO BE GIVEN BACK TO GOD.
Now here’s the teaching of these verses: God gives us children as gifts of His grace; but God is honored when we trustingly give them back to Him for His glory. Here is Samuel, this very special gift of God given to Hannah as an answer to the deepest prayer of her heart, and she gives Samuel back to the Lord.
This reminds me of the story of Isaac, who was Abraham’s son of promise. God had promised Abraham to bless his seed as the sands of the sea in number and as the stars in the sky. Well, by the time Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 90, it didn’t seem like there was much chance of her having a baby. I think by this time they had sold the baby crib and redecorated the nursery for another use due to this little thing called “the change of life.”
In fact, when God told Abraham Sarah would bear a child at that age, the Bible says he literally fell on his face and laughed. And when three strangers showed up at their tent and one of them told Abraham that Sarah was going to have a baby, the Bible says Sarah overheard their conversation and “laughed within herself.”
Well, if you were 90 years old, wouldn’t you? God knew that she had laughed and said, “Is anything too hard for God?”
Well, God did a miracle and sure enough, Sarah had a child named Isaac. And buddy, I want to tell you, Isaac was IT. He was the last hope and the only evidence that God would ever fulfill His promise to bless Abraham as the sands of the sea and the stars in the sky. If anything ever happened to Isaac, it was hard to envision ANOTHER miracle of birth after the change of life.
But then one day, God told Abraham to give up his only child by Sarah; to take him up to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him to the Lord. You know the story, how Abraham believed God; how he was willing to sacrifice his own son as a test of His faith in God’s promise; how an angel stayed his hand when he had raised it to slay his son; and how God provided a ram as a substitute for Isaac.
What a testimony of faith in God! But that faith was tested by Abraham’s giving up his dearest son to God.
Brethren, you’ll never be asked to literally send your children to live in and serve in the church (although I could use a little helper around here), nor will you be asked to take a knife, and raise it, fully expecting to sacrifice your child on an altar to God. But the truth is, God wants every one of you as parents here to give up your own plans and dreams for your child in exchange for God’s purposes and for God to have His way in their lives.
To give our children back to God is to say, “God, my children are YOURS and I’m a steward of these gifts from you. I surrender my dreams for their lives and ask you to have YOUR will in their lives; for You to use them as YOU see fit. And I’m going to raise them up as you have commanded to honor you in their lives.
Let me ask you a question: Have you come to a place in your life where you’ve prayed that prayer? Have you given your children to the Lord? Have you given up your dreams for them and asked the Lord to use them as He sees fit?
That’s what it means to give our kids back to God, and every parent here ought to do that.
II. SECOND, GOD WANTS YOU TO PASS ON TO THESE LITTLE GIFTS FROM GOD A PASSION TO LOVE GOD AND FOLLOW HIM.
Turn with me please to Deuteronomy 6 where God commands parents and fathers specifically about the important job of modeling and teaching God’s truth to our kids.
Listen to what God commanded in Deuteronomy 6:
1) First, He tells us that stimulating faith in our children begins with your own faith as parents and specifically, as a father. – Verses 5-6 say “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.”
God says that before you can teach your children to love and follow God, first YOU have to love Him and follow Him. He doesn’t say for you to do this flippantly or carelessly or halfheartedly. No, the love for God we’re to model for our children has to be complete and total love and commitment to Him: to love Him with ALL your heart; with ALL your soul; and ALL your might.
And before you can command God’s word into your children’s hearts, you have to first have it in YOUR heart. I hope and pray that each of you parents, and each of you fathers in particular this morning are TOTALLY committed to God; COMPLETELY dedicated to Him; fully giving Him ALL your might.
If not, I beg of you to give yourself to God wholly and unreservedly and to live out your faith in God and the Lord Jesus Christ with consistency and faithfulness before your family.
2) And then the Bible teaches us to pass this faith and the truths of God’s Word on to our children. – Verses 7-8 – “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.”
• Notice that God says to be DILIGENT in teaching your children.
Dads and moms, listen: this is the most important responsibility you will ever have: to teach your children about God and His Word. It’s more important than teaching them how to read or write or do math. It’s more important than teaching them how to have a good work ethic. It’s more important than teaching them how to choose a good spouse. It’s more important than teaching them responsibility, order, character, or how to get along.
So you must be DILIGENT at it: That is to say, you have to WORK at it; you have STAY at it; you have to KEEP ON KEEPING ON doing it; and when you find yourself dropping the ball and neglecting it, you have to DISCIPLINE yourself to get back and be faithful at it!
• Not only must you be diligent to teach your children about God and His ways, but also, not that it’s a job that is to go on around the clock.
This passage says that you’re to teach your children these things when you’re sitting in your house, when you’re walking along the way; when you lay your children down to sleep at nigh; and when you rise up in the morning. That pretty much covers the day, doesn’t it? Do you begin your day reading God’s Word with your family; talking about spiritual truth naturally all during the day; talking of God as you lay your kids down to bed and saying their prayers with them? God help you to do this; to do it diligently; to do it all day long!
CONCLUSION
This charge this morning is firstly directed to the fathers and mothers who have dedicated their children to the Lord this morning.
But I want to charge all of you this morning to take up the mantel and carry out this command.
• Oh listen, love the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your might. That begins by giving your life to Jesus Christ by being saved. But it also means you as a man or a woman who is a believer living for God staying in God’s Word and knowing God’s Word and bringing yourself and your kids weekly to church so you can relight the fires of affection for the Lord in your heart so you’ll have something to pass on to your children.
• Then and only then can you effectively teach your children about God. DO IT! Do it DILIGENTLY; do it all the day, every day.
