GIVING YOUR CHILDREN BACK TO GOD
(Baby Dedication)
Question:
• Have you ever given your children back to God?
o (Some of you are thinking, “I’d like to give them back—but I didn’t think God would take them back.
o I thought He had a ‘no return’ policy on kids!
o Besides, I lost the receipt!”)
• The truth is, there is not a parent here who hasn’t had a few moments or days when they wouldn’t have liked to package up that kid and take him/her back to God’s customer service counter and demand, “I want my money back!”
o Well, I’m not suggesting you return your kids to God and try to get your money back
• When I ask you if you have ever given your children back to God.
o What I am asking is, have you ever really:
? Recognized your children are a precious gift from the Lord, and they belong ultimately and always to God first—not to you?
? Released ownership of your children to Him—understanding God is responsible for the way in which they were designed and already knows the plan and purpose for their future?
? Realized God has left it up to you to show them His way?
BIBLICAL EXAMPLES:
There are many examples of parents in the Bible who brought their children to God and gave them back to Him:
1. Hannah bringing her son Samuel (the son for whom she had prayed), and presenting him to God, and handing young Samuel over to Eli the priest. (I Sam. 1:27-28).
27 I prayed for this boy, and since the Lord gave me what I asked Him for, 28 I now give the boy to the Lord. For as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.” Then he (Eli) bowed in worship to the Lord there.[p]
2. Joseph and Mary brought the infant child Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (Lk. 2:22).
And when the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were finished, (That would be circumcision) they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord
But the example of a parent surrendering his child to God that I want us to read about today is that of Abraham offering Isaac on Mt. Moriah.
Genesis 22, -- let’s see what God would have to say to us today about “Giving Your Children Back To God.”
TEXT GENESIS 22:1-13
Abraham literally, totally, irrevocably gave Isaac back to God.
Man, that had to be hard and painful for Abraham.
• After all:
o Abraham loved Isaac. V.2 God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, and sacrifice him ...”
o Isaac had been a MIRACLE baby. He was born when Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100 years of age.
o Oh yes, just try to put yourself in Abraham’s place. It was incomprehensibly painful for Abraham to strap his dear son on an altar and a stack of wood, raise a knife to slash open that boy’s chest and throat, cremate the body and sit by as he smelled the stench of the burning flesh of his boy—and then watch that boy literally disintegrate into a pile of ashes!
o Whew! I don’t know if I would do that…even if God asked!
? But in a very real sense, I know I MUST DO THAT with both of the precious boys God has given me.
Do you know—the best thing Abraham ever did for Isaac was to tie him to that altar and to surrender him back to God?
1) Had Abraham refused to give Isaac back to God, he would have forfeited all God’s promises and plans for Isaac. Isaac would have lived and died in obscurity—a nomad, and a nobody.
2) 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.
· Isaac became the forefather of God’s own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
· Isaac’s life is still having an impact on and blessing millions of people worldwide through his offspring—Jesus Christ.
You and I need to learn from Abraham today.
If we refuse and fail to give our children back to God—we may very well be forfeiting God’s best plan and purpose for their lives.
And when we entrust our children back to God—we secure for them the covenant of God’s best purpose and plan for their lives.
FOUR ELEMENTS OF GIVING YOUR CHILD BACK TO GOD:
· What does it mean? It means 4 things:
1) Giving your child to God is a CONFIRMATION of your love for God.
· The first thing you are saying when you give that child back to the Lord is simply this...that you love God even more than you love that child.
SONG: WHEN I LAY MY ISAAC DOWN:
Abraham prayed for the day
God would give him a son
Blessed Isaac was his name
The greatest gift he’d ever known
Then came the day, who would have dreamed
God would say “Give him to me
On this mountain you will prove,
It’s you and Isaac, or it’s me and you”
When I lay my Isaac down
Broken heart but my Fathers proud
On this altar here he lays
Just to find it wasn’t him he/(God) wanted me
(Your child is a most prized possession…but don’t allow them to take the place of God!)
More than anyone, God deserves and desires your love – and the BEST thing you can teach your child – is to love God RECKLESSLY!
And do that by modeling it! LIVING IT!
· This is exactly what Abraham proved by his willingness to offer Isaac. He was demonstrating that his love and fear of God were supreme in his life above all else.
· Abraham loved God above the most prized treasure of his life...his only son Isaac.
Matthew 10:37-38
37 The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow[m] Me is not worthy of Me.
When we love GOD above everything else, and EVERYONE else, we are showing all the people we love the WAY THINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE – how to be WORTHY of Jesus!
Not only a Confirmation…
2) Giving your children to God is a CLARIFICATION of ownership.
• --When you give your child back to God, you are openly declaring that:
o This child is a gift from God.
o This child does not really belong to you.
o This child belongs to God.
? You have the privilege to love and train this child.
? But this child is not yours—but God’s!
• Was this not what had to be on Abraham’s mind when he lay Isaac on the altar?
o Was he not saying, “Lord, this young man belongs to you—not me?”
o He was saying, “You do with him as you please. He’s yours!”
• Hey listen!
o That little boy or girl does not really belong to you—
? Charlie does not REALLY belong to you!
? Our babies belong to God!
? They are a precious gift from God, on loan to US!
? Hey LISTEN UP:
• We’d better be careful how we treat and care for God’s property!
o We better be good stewards!
Not only a Confirmation, Clarification…
3) Giving Your Children to God Is A COMMITMENT to Raise Your Children God’s Way!
• Let me tell you something friend.
o God did not authorize the state to raise children.
o And God did not authorize day care centers or schools to raise kids.
o God authorized Mommies and Daddies to raise kids!
Eph. 6:4 says we are to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Deut?
· LISTEN...
a Baby Dedication is giving your child to GOD, it is NOT just a CEREMONY...It is a COMMITMENT.
• It is a commitment that you are going to:
o Be a Godly parent.
? (Parent dedication…requires getting right w/ God)
? YOU: HONOR your mother and father, and your grand mother and father
• Why?
• BECAUSE GOD SAID SO!
• Exodus 20:12 – it’s one of the BIG 10!
• You honor them by living your life for God!
• YOU honor them by loving them, and respecting them,
o EVEN WHEN IT IS HARD
o EVEN when you don’t feel like they deserve it
o EVEN when whatever
? WHY?
? BECAUSE GOD SAID SO!
• And if that ain’t enough, you ain’t right with God!
o Well they did this or that!
? YOU do not deserve to have the blood of Jesus wash your sins away, and yet HE did just that the moment you realized you were a sinner in need of saving and by HIS PERFECT GRACE you were saved!
? It is not, will never be, about deserve!
? It’s about being a godly parent, reflecting god, and showing grace
•
o Teach this child of Christ. (they will need to be saved)
o Keep this child in church.
? You don’t just drop them off,
? YOU come to church with them
• And you drag them when they don’t want to come
? Because what you SHOW them as valuable will become valuable!
? Where you turn to in times of distress and trouble, they will turn to
• So turn to God!
o Love this child.
? even if loving them means disciplining them
? letting God discipline, you!
o Pray for this child.
? This is the GREATEST thing we can do for our children and it is the LARGEST act of love we can ever do!
• But don’t just pray FOR your child, pray WITH your child!
o Train this child.
? They are ALWAYS watching, so you are ALWAYS TRAINING
o Stay married for this child,
? if it is possible – so you better FIGHT for your marriage when things get rough!
? Don’t just throw it away!
o Make your home a holy place.
? Put away worldliness.
• LET THEM SEE YOU READ GOD’S WORD!
o Live a righteous life.
• I think some people see baby dedication as a magical ceremony.
o Let me tell you—
? this little ceremony means nothing—zero—
• UNLESS you are not making a sincere, life-long commitment to raise this child God’s way!
Ex: I like what Joshua told the children of Israel as they settled into their new home, the Promised Land.
Joshua 24:14-15
14 “Therefore, fear the Lord and worship Him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship Yahweh. 15 But if it doesn’t please you to worship Yahweh, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh.”
“I want my family to turn out right, and so, as a parent, I’m going to begin to lead them right!”
AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!
Men, let me tell you, that is the kind of words a family LONGS to hear!
NO IF’S, ANDS, or BUTs!
WE WILL SERVE THE LORD
With ME being the leader, and the example!
Man, that’s the kind of commitment God is looking for in parents today!
Not only a Confirmation, Clarification, Commitment…
4) Giving Your Children to God is a CLAIMING of God’s plan and promises for that child’s life.
· Isaac inherited God’s blessings, protection and promises because his dad, Abraham, gave him back to God.
Genesis 22:15-18 (read)
• Your children are blessed by your obedience to God AND cursed by your disobedience to God.
o What does that mean?
? they 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 life, and as you give that child back to God, you are posturing that child to receive God’s very best for his/her life.
Pr 22:6 -
Teach a youth about the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
…So, this is what it means to give your children back to God:
1) It is a CONFIRMATION of your supreme love for Christ.
2) It is a CLARIFICATION of ownership (God owns that child).
3) It is a COMMITMENT to raise that child under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
4) It is a CLAIMING of God’s best plan and promises for that child’s life.
· This is exactly what transpired when Abraham took Isaac up Mt. Moriah and laid him on the altar to give him to God.
1) Abraham was CONFIRMING his love and fear of Jehovah.
2) Abraham was CLARIFYING that Isaac really belonged to God.
3) Abraham was COMMITTING to be a Godly parent.
4) Abraham was CLAIMING God’s plan and promises for Isaac.
SO PARENTS:
What I just laid down was pretty heavy – are you willing to pick it up?
Are you willing to stand there, in front of this church body, in GOD’S HOUSE, and make that commitment?
If you are not right with God right now, you better get right!
Are you going to be like Abraham? Confirming, Clarifying, Committing, and Claiming?
Are you willing to make the BOLDY declaration that as for YOU and YOUR HOUSE, YOU will serve the Lord – with you as LEADER and EXAMPLAR?
If so say SO SAY!
