Giving Our Children Back to God
Child Dedication sermon
Chuck Sligh
May 18, 2014
(Basic outline adapted from a sermon by Jerry Shirley.)
(A PowerPoint presentation for this sermon is available upon request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.)
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 22.
INTRODUCTION
I have a question for all of you parents today: Have you ever given your children back to God?
Illus. – I mentioned that to a lady in our church one time and she said, “I’d like to give them back, but I thought God had a ‘no return’ policy on kids! Besides, I lost the receipt!”
The truth is, there’s not a parent here who hasn’t had a few moments or days when they wouldn’t have liked to package up that kiddo and take him or her back to God’s customer service counter and demand, “I want my money back!”
Well, I think you know that’s not what I really mean. What I’m really asking is if you’ve done what these parents did today in this dedication ceremony.
God asks us to put many things on His altar, but today these parents have brought their children and put them on the altar! We saw earlier the biblical basis for this,…
• about how Hannah brought Samuel (the son for whom she had prayed), and presented him to God, and handed young Samuel over to Eli the priest. (1 Samuel 1:27-28)
• about how Joseph and Mary presented Jesus to God in the temple. (Luke 2:22)
But the most dramatic example is the story of Abraham offering Isaac on Mount Moriah.
Let’s read about it in Genesis 22:1-13 – “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt [literally “test” or “prove”] Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.”
In this remarkable story, Abraham literally, totally, and irrevocably gave Isaac back to God.
Man!—that had to be hard and painful for Abraham. After all, Abraham loved Isaac. – In verse 2 God says, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest…”
Not only did Abraham love Isaac, but he’d been a “miracle baby.” – He was born when Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100 years of age.
Just try to put yourself in Abraham’s place. It was incomprehensibly painful for Abraham to strap his dear son on an altar, raise a knife to kill him, cremate the body and watch him disintegrate into a pile of ashes! I don’t know if I could do that…even if God asked!
But it’s a good thing he did; the best thing Abraham ever did for Isaac was to tie him to that altar and to surrender him back to God! Had Abraham refused to give Isaac back to God, he would’ve forfeited all God’s promises and plans for Isaac and Isaac would have lived and died in obscurity—a nomad and a nobody. But because Abraham obeyed and gave Isaac back to God, Isaac received the fullness of God’s best plan and promise for his life…Isaac became a wealthy man; he became the forefather of God’s own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; and Isaac’s life is still blessing millions of people worldwide through his offspring—Jesus Christ.
So we need to learn from Abraham today. If we refuse and fail to give our own children back to God—we may very well be forfeiting God’s best plan and purpose for their lives.
Parents, let me share with you what it means to give your children to God:
I. FIRST, IT IS A CONFIRMATION OF YOUR LOVE FOR GOD.
The first thing you’re saying when you gave your child back to the Lord is simply this: that you love God even more than you love that child.
Your child are a most prized possession…but don’t allow them to take the place of God! Abraham proved his supreme love of God by his willingness to offer Isaac. Abraham loved God above the most prized treasure of his life…his only son Isaac.
Jesus said in Matthew 10:37-38 – “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.”
So dedicating your child to God is a way of confirming that God is first in your affections.
When Jesus was asked what was the greatest of all commandments, He said in Mark 12:29-30 – “…The first of all the commandments is…30…thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”
Dad, Mom—the MOST important thing you can do for your children is NOT to love THEM first and foremost, but to be an example of parents who love God as your HIGHEST priority in your life with a passion that is summed up by those words “with all your heart, soul, mind and strength”—that is, your WHOLE BEING.
II. SECOND, GIVING YOUR KIDS TO GOD IS A CLARIFICATION OF OWNERSHIP.
When you give your child to God, you’re openly declaring that your child is a gift from God; that your child does not really belong to you; that he or she belongs to God.
This is what must have been on Abraham’s mind when he laid Isaac on the altar. Was he not saying, “Lord, my son belongs to you—not me.”? Was he not saying, “You do with him as YOU please. He’s YOURS!”
If you’re a follower of Christ, listen carefully: That precious little boy or girl does not really belong to you—he or she belongs to God! Your child is a precious loan to you from God. Ps. 127:3 puts it this way: “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.”
Now…if our children belong to God and we’re merely stewards of them, we’d better be careful how we treat and care for God’s property! When parents ABUSE their children—physically, verbally or sexually—they’re abusing what belongs to GOD and God will judge those such parents severely. Children are God’s heritage, not ours; so we have great responsibilities to love them; care for them; nurture them; teach them; protect them; discipline them; tell them about Jesus; and prepare them for a life of service for God and others.
Not only is child dedication a confirmation of our love for God and a clarification of God’s ownership…
III. THIRD, IT IS A COMMITMENT TO RAISE THEM UP GOD’S WAY!
In Ephesians 6:4 Paul teaches that we’re to rear our children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
What do these two words, “nurture” and “admonition” mean?
• The Greek work translated “nurture” is paideía, which has no exact equivalent in English. The underlying concept of paideía is “structuring.” This would mean discipline and chastisement when needed, but also covers the whole training experience whereby a parent structures a child’s life, instead of simply letting him do whatever he wants.
• The Greek word for “admonishment” is nouthesía, which means “exhortation, warning, correction, counsel—all of which, you may have noticed, are verbal in nature.
So basically, Paul says to bring your kids up with structure and discipline on one hand, and plenty of verbal exhortation, correction, and counsel on the other.
Listen...To give your child to God is a COMMITMENT that you’re going to be godly parents to set an example; to give your child direction and guidance and structure, and yes, even discipline when it is needed; and to teach and exhort and counsel your child…about what the Bible teaches; about God and His character; about Christ and the way of salvation; about right and wrong behavior; and the consequences of sinful behavior and the blessing of righteous behavior.
Whether you’ve publically dedicated your children to the Lord yet or not, may God help ALL of you parents to commit yourselves to rearing your children in the Lord.
Notice what Joshua told the Israelites as they settled into the Promised Land in Joshua 24:14-15 – “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served…5 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
THAT’S the kind of commitment God is looking for in parents today! Not only is a child dedication a confirmation of your love of God, a clarification of God’s ownership of our kids, and a commitment to rearing our children God’s way…
IV. LAST, IT’S CLAIMING GOD’S PLAN AND PROMISES FOR YOUR CHILD’S LIFE.
Isaac inherited God’s blessings, protection and promises because his dad Abraham gave him back to God.
God told Abraham in Genesis 22:16-18 – “…for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
Your children are BLESSED by your OBEDIENCE to God…and CURSED by your DISOBEDIENCE to God. They do have a free will, but you stack the odds in their favor or against them by the way YOU live! As you obey God with your own life, and as you give that child back to God, you’re posturing that child to receive God’s very best for his or her life.
Proverbs 22:6 tells us a general principle of life, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
CONCLUSION
So, this is what it means to give your children back to God:
• It’s a CONFIRMATION of your supreme love for Christ.
• It’s a CLARIFICATION of God’s ownership of your child.
• It’s a COMMITMENT to raise your child under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
• And it’s a CLAIMING of God’s best plan and promises for your child’s life.
This is exactly what transpired when Abraham took Isaac up Mount Moriah and laid him on the altar to give him to God.
As we close, let me ask you two key questions to bring this sermon home to us all this morning:
First, whether you have children or not, have you first of all given YOURSELF to God? God is worthy of all our devotion and love. Give your life to Him and serve Him with all your heart.
And then, may I ask all our parents: Have you given your children back to the Lord? Maybe you’ve done it publicly like these today, or maybe only in your heart, but have you confirmed your supreme love for God, clarified that your child belongs to God; and committed yourself to rearing your child in God’s ways? If so, good!—Now be faithful in that commitment; persevere no matter what the world says; don’t quit and don’t give up, no matter how difficult the challenges! In so doing, you can lay claim to God’s best plan and promises for your child’s life.
