Title: Child Dedication 2017
Date:5/14/17
Place: BLCC
Text: Psalm 127. 3-5
CT: We must stand up as parents to put God first for our children’s sake!
[Screen 1]
Married couples in the United States spend, on average, 130 hours per week on paid and unpaid work combined. But all our hard work is not enough. Research shows working parents "increasingly feel that they do not have enough time to get things done at their jobs."
How do we cope? We look for ways to buy back our time. One researcher writes: "The time-starved mother is being forced more and more to choose between being a parent and buying a commodified version of parenthood from someone else." Of course, fathers are faced with the same conflict, but mothers still do more of the household work. So, increasingly, new products and concepts are being developed to extract smaller bits of time and effort from family life and return them to the family—for a price—as ready-made goods and services.
Here's how one company markets its services:
How much is it worth to stop being frazzled and feel rested and ready to go at work? If a personal concierge can keep you from realizing at three in the morning that you forgot to send out a Mother's Day card, the odds increase that you'll get a good night's sleep and be fresh and ready to go the following day when your boss hands you another emergency project.
Katrina Alcorn, Maxxed Out (Seal Press, 2013), pp. 127-129
LS: Does your life ever feel that way? Does life get in the way of being the parent you want to be?
[Screen 2]
FAS: Psalm 127.3-5 Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
Our children are a priority at BLCC. When I started here going on four years ago, I said I wanted to put our youth ministry on the front burner. I am glad to say the leadership of this church has really stepped up. I thank God for the hiring of my millennial brother Tyler Duncan. I especially thank God for all the children we have bringing such a wonderful sound into this church.
Let’s pray...
Okay, you parents, what do you want for your kids? Have you ever really thought about it? What do you really want for your kids?
• We want our kids to be healthy.
• We want them to have some good friends, to be well liked.
• We want them to be successful in school, so they can go to
college if they want.
• We want them to be successful in something they like to do —
like sports, or music.
• We want them to have enough strength of character that they
avoid the big vices like drugs, or alcohol, porn.
• We want them to get a good job, so they will be financially stable.
• We want them to find a good spouse, to have a decent marriage.
• We want them to produce grandkids. I like that one.
• The #1 answer parents give is this: we want our kids to be happy.
And these are good answers. But as Christians what should we want for our children. The young people in our church here today. [Screen 3]
Jesus said, Mark 8.36 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul?
Christ is saying that our kids are going to be in eternity a lot longer than this life. You as a parent play a big part in how they spend their eternity. [Screen 4]
1 Tim. 5.8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Paul is not just talking about physical needs here! He is about leading and teaching our children and family about God’s Ideal.
II. God’s Ideal Priorities
Here's how a Christian parent sets their priorities if they are seeking God’s Ideal:
[Screen 5] #1: God; #2: Spouse; #3: Kids; #4: Work; #5:Play.
God gets first place, not our work for God, but our life with God, our relationship with God. Our spouse gets second place: not our kids, ladies; not our work, guys; not our hunting, or our fishing, or our ballgames. Our spouse gets #2. Then our kids. Parents, the best gift you can give to your kids is to give them #3.
Loving your child’s mother or father is the best gift you can give your kids. There are some of us guys and ladies who really fall short on this. Your husband or wife needs to know they are number one after God. I don’t care how long you have been married you need to be courting them just like you did before you were married. That means back rubs when needed and an ear that listens whenever your spouse speaks. Children are not #1, or #2, but a very strong #3. They will benefit from this in ways you haven’t counted.
Then our work, then our play. That is God-honoring. And any time we mess with this list, like so many people do every day, we mess up our life with God, we mess up our marriages, and we mess up our kids.
[Screen 6]
Proverbs 22.6: The Bible says, "Direct your children onto the right path, {means to follow Jesus} and when they are older, they will not leave it." "Teach children how they should live — God first, spouse second, kids third, work fourth, and play fifth — and they will remember it all of their life." But how do we direct them onto the right path? [Screen 7]
Deuteronomy 6, starting with verse 4: "Hear, 0 Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. [That's God first; my life with God, priority#1.]
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your heart . Impress them on your children. [Repeat them again and again to your children. I love the way the Message translated it: Get them inside you, and then get them inside your children.] Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (4-9)
[Screen 8] #1 God, #2 Spouse, #3 Kids, #4: Work; #5 Play.
Moms. You are enough. You love your kids. I know some of you are carrying a heavy load by yourself. You are not alone. I am challenging this church to be there for you to support and encourage you as you raise your children to seek God’s ideal.
Dads, it's on us, it's on our shoulders.
Here's the bottom line, guys. If a father does not go to church no matter how faithful his wife is, only about 2% kids will become followers of Christ. But if a father goes to church faithfully, it doesn't matter what mom does, 2/3 of his kids will be connected to the church for the rest of their life.
Dads, it's on us. It doesn't matter whether we want the pressure or not, it's on us. These numbers are politically incorrect; the PC will squirm. But they confirm what psychologists, and criminologists, and educators, and Christians have always known: [Screen 9] dad's matter. Men, the spiritual life of our kids is on us. If we choose to blow off God and blow off church, we are telling our kids to do the same.
[Screen 10]
Church. Our job is to support and encourage our families in all ways. We are to provide an environment that teaches the true Jesus Christ to these kids. We are to stand up for biblical relationships in our families. We are to be a place where they learn of the love, forgiveness, grace and truth of our Lord. We are all involved in this. These children are the children of this church family. May we not fail a single one of them?
[Screen 11]
DEDICATION SERVICE
Call up Parents and children one at a time and have them face the pulpit.
God established the home as one of the most vital institutions on earth. God said to Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” Since that time, God has blessed man and woman with the wonder of children.
We can take our rule of faith and practice for this service this morning from God’s Word, the Bible! We find several accounts in the Bible of children being dedicated to God.
In the Old Testament, Samuel was dedicated to God in 1 Samuel 1:20. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.
In the New Testament, Jesus was dedicated to God in Luke 2:22. When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
So we come today, not only to ask God’s special blessing on these children, but also to challenge and encourage these parents to be a godly mother and father who will love and care for these children and give them every opportunity to live the kind of life that God wants us to live.
So in this act of dedication, I ask these questions:
Minister: Does each of you as a parent of the special child you bring to the Lord this morning dedicate yourself to providing an atmosphere of reverence for God in your family, a spirit of dependence on God in all things great and small, and a consistent exposure of your family to the Word of God?
Parents: Yes, I do.
Minister: Do you dedicate yourselves to providing your children with daily assurance of both your love and the heavenly Father’s love for them?
Parents: Yes, we do.
Minister: And will you pray for and with your children, striving to bring them up in the way of the Lord so that in the fullness of time they will confess of their own free will that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior?
Parents: Yes, we will.
Minister: Do you now unreservedly dedicate your child to God and promise, in humble reliance upon his grace, to set a godly example for them?
Parents: Yes, we do, with God’s help.
Congregational Question/Vow
Minister: As a symbol of our united commitment to these families, church, please stand and respond to this important question:
Blue Licks Christian Church, do you commit yourselves to doing everything you can, in formal roles of service and in informal interactions with these families, to assist these parents in the fulfillment of the vows of dedication that they have just made?
Congregation: Yes, we do.
Prayer of Dedication
Heavenly Father, what a glorious sight this is today! Devoted and blessed parents stand before you with gifts of infinite value that you have entrusted to their care. We celebrate with them this morning and pray that you will fill these moms and dads with an abundance of wisdom. Enable them to be parents that will make the difference of a lifetime in their sons and daughters. Help them, Father, to stay in tune with your Holy Spirit as you provide them with the internal guidance system that they and their children need. Bless their homes with warmth, provision, and safety.
Fill their grandparents and extended families with your love so that they will experience kindness, mercy, and hope with regularity. Prepare each of these precious souls for the abundant life that is found only in you. As a church, we open ourselves in a fresh way to be used by you to help shape and encourage these families. We pray this in the name of the one who blesses children as no other, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Conclusion
We must stand as parents and as a church to put God first in all we do for the sake of those who come behind us. The invitation is open if you are ready to make that commitment to put God first. The Bible tells us to repent and be baptized. What are you waiting for?
Invitation: Find Us Faithful
Bibliography:
Veech, Guthrie,Christian Ministers Manuel, Standard Publishing, Cincinnati OH, 2006, Print
