Dedication
December 19th, 2021
CCCAG
Scripture: Luke 2:22-40
Introduction
After I got saved one of the biggest arguments I had with my family had to do with what we were going to do with our children when it came to spiritual matters.
I have been raised in a house that was largely a twice a year religious house- Christmas, Easter, and the occasional wedding, funeral, or other religious observance that people were expected to show up for.
One of them involved baptizing babies. Usually in the first 6 months of a child being brought home from the hospital, they would bring the child to the church for the pastor to “baptize into the family of God”. There would then be a party afterward to celebrate this event, and as my uncle said- he is off the hook for Christmas or Easter because he went to church that day.
I don’t think anyone understood the significance of what just happened, but then again they just went with what the church told them to do and that was that.
Infant baptism was something you just did.
However, when I got saved into a more bible believing faith, it was about the same time my daughter was born. I went to my pastor at the time and asked when we should have her baptized and he explained to me what baptism was really about and how biblically it was done after a person made a decision and confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, God, Savior, and king and symbolized following Christ into the grave by being completely submerged in water and rising up out of the water again a new creation in Jesus.
This follows what Jesus taught us in John chapter 3-
John 3:5-7
"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'
So to answer the obvious question- is it required for salvation. Technically if you split hairs, no. If you get saved, and die the next day without being baptized, you still go to heaven.
However, if you have been saved for any length of time and have not been baptized, then I ask why?
Jesus said if you love me you will obey my commands. Baptism is not a suggestion from Jesus, but a command. It’s the public declaration of your new faith in Christ Jesus, and you should be baptized to fulfil his wishes and desire for you.
Again, baptism after making a decision for Christ is the model, and full immersion in water is the way it is done. We make some limited exceptions- for example I led a hospitalized hospice patient to Christ. He had a bone cancer that made moving him out of bed impossible as the risk for bone fractures was too high, so I baptized him through pouring water over his head.
But unless you have advanced osteosarcoma, if you are saved, you should be baptized by immersion.
I say all of that to say this-
This was a huge fight between my mother and I when the kids were born, and she called the church that she hadn’t been too in years, talked to the pastor, and got special permission to baptize the kids in her sink at home. She had the idea that if something happened to them, they wouldn’t go to heaven. Eventually she got saved and learned the right way, but at that time we just let it go.
I had to bring all of that up because I know that many people here came up in faith traditions and denominations that believe in infant baptism.
However, the bible has zero instance of this practice.
It is not found in the writings of the early church.
It’s not found in the creeds or decisions of early church councils.
Paul- the guy who set our faith and practice never talks about infant baptism. He only refers to it in reference to a teen or adult coming to faith in Jesus.
So we in the more bible centered church’s that were formed in the last 150 years or so looked to the bible and found what we should do- child dedication, following Jesus’ example about a month after he was born.
So that bring us to today’s topic- dedicating children.
About 30 days after the events of the nativity, Joseph and Mary make the 12-mile hike into Jerusalem to follow what the law of Moses told them they had to do, and that is what we will focus on today-
Luke 2:22-40
22 When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord" ), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons."
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
33 The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."
36 There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
Prayer
Historical context- Keep in mind- this is OT law, not New Testament practice-
In the law of Moses, couples were required to present their children to the priest in the temple and dedicate them to God. Under the religious law found Leviticus 12, the following requirements had to be met-
The mother had to be purified after the birth- 30 days for male babies and 60 days for female babies. I have no idea why the difference other than this- remember the bible records things that in the context it was written made sense to them, but to our 21st century way of thinking is abhorrent- like sexism. At that time there was a cultural norm that females in that time were considered less valuable, so maybe that is the reason.
Next- the offering of two doves or pigeons. This is significant because the law actually says you were to bring a lamb for sacrifice unless you were poor, then you could bring the birds.
That’s just an indication on the financial situation of Joseph and Mary at that time. The priest would then pray and prayer, and sacrifice the animals given and the child would be dedicated to the LORD.
In Jesus’ case, they ran into two different people in the temple on their way to see the priest- the first is a man named Simeon, who was a prophet. Simeon was the first human to really proclaim what God had in mind for this baby-
Luke 2:30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
Simeon broke with hundreds of years of Jewish belief that their messiah would be the one to cast off the chains of Rome and create the Davidic dynasty again- becoming the world superpower that they had known under his family.
Simeon proclaimed him to be the savior of the entire world, and not just for the Hebrew people.
But, this was not the only person to prophesy that day- a woman named Anna did the same thing. God was proclaiming that the apparent sexism that existed during their time is over in his eyes. Woman were to be considered equal to men and celebrated as beings of equal worth.
Remember that when the world accuses us of being sexist or keeping woman down- that’s not the gospel. Woman and men are equal in God’s sight.
So, we follow Jesus’ example in dedicating our children to the LORD.
So, in the Christian church, what is dedication.
It’s a way to remind the parents that it is their job to raise their children up in the fear of God, and to lead them to faith in Jesus Christ.
This is probably the number one thing that we want to get across to everyone in the church and especially parents- you are responsible for your children spiritual well-being.
I don't care if you have the best church and the best pastor in the world. Kids ministries and youth groups- nothing can substitute for having godly parents in the home. If you live like hell at home don't expect heavenly influences to be formed in your children.
Keep this in mind- 20% of what children learn is taught. 80% of what they learn is caught.
In other words- they are products of their environments. If you cuss, partying, and have entertainment that isn’t spiritually uplifting, and spend more time staring at a 5 inch screen then with your family- don’t expect the church to pick up that slack.
It’s impossible. We have them for 1 hr a week. Even with God’s help, that’s a lot of time they are away from us and with you and their peers.
Choose wisely parents.
The second thing dedication does is release the Holy Spirit into their lives.
There is a significant power in your prayers, and that is often lost on parents. We all have a tendency to be lazy when it comes to prayer and hope that God’s grace will be sufficient.
To be sure, God’s grace is powerful, and we are all completely dependent on it.
But God’s presence and power doesn’t generally manifest where it’s not wanted. As parents, you have incredible power to release both to your children, but God is waiting for you to ask for it. While common grace protects your children, the specific grace for God’s blessing needs to be released by the parents until the child learns and is released to pursue it for themselves.
This is probably the one thing I want to instill in you as we move forward as a church family- barring a religious revival, we are rapidly approaching a time where these meetings will become illegal. Either through taxing the church’s out of existence or just forbidding them from discussing social issues, we are all living in a post Christian country.
They are already talking about shutting down the business’ including church’s again.
You need to develop quickly your own relationship with God, and that relationship is developed and sustained by a prayer life and studying his Word. We need to all re-dedicate ourselves today to allowing HIM to have a primary place in our lives.
Finally, dedication reminds the church body that while the parents of the children have the most responsibility to raise their children, this is a spiritual family. If one person is hurting, we all should be hurting.
How many people here ever thank God for their big toe not hurting?
Get a case of gout, and you will be forever thankful to never ever get it again. Your big toes becomes the most important part of your body because it’s making it’s displeasure known by being red, swollen, and full of uric acid crystals which grind together like glass inside your joints.
The same thing is true when a member of our church family is hurting. You may never pay them any attention or even think of them during the week- but if you know they are hurting, especially young families raising small children- offer to help sometimes. Babysit for a night so husband can take the wife out to dinner. Woman, mentor the young girls, men- mentor the young boys. That’s what a family does- takes care of it’s members.
We are going to start that process this morning with dual child dedication
Dedications of Marcus and Christian Shultz.
