Today is a special day as we have 11 babies that are here to be dedicated by their parents. Before we do that let me share with you some important things about children…
In this life there are certain "Rites of Passage". Some are connected to the passage of years. For example when you reached age 5 and got to go to school after waiting for all those years - then you reached age 18 and graduated from H.S. and didn’t have to go to school any more.
There was age 16 – when you got your drivers license and your first real taste of freedom and of course your first speeding ticket a month later and your first real taste of the price of freedom
Then there was age 21 – when you got to vote and drink and your realization that both can cause a lot of problems.
There are other "Rites of Passage" connected to the passage of events like your first job and your first car – (mine was a 1965 Ford Falcon – green). Then there was your first date – we don’t need to discuss that catastrophe – which my mom wrote about to the entire world in her annual Christmas letter.
There was the first kiss, your wedding day, and finally, the birth of your child and then you get to see it all again – through their eyes.
There are other rites of passge connected to time. The aches and Pains; spare tires and bulging spares that come with the years.
I remember being 35 and saying to a friend, “I don’t feel 35!”. That year someone turned off my metabolism and I gained 25lbs in three months.
There is the dreaded black 40th birthday party – nothing is worse except perhaps the 50th birthday which followed the year after – it seems.
I have reached another event marking the passage of time – yesterday, at Burger King, the girl at the counter, a rather inconsiderate and rude child, gave me my first – unsolicited – cup of senior citizen coffee for a quarter and my wife laughed. Now, she didn’t just smirk and giggle a little. She hew-hawed so hard that tears came down her face. I thought she was going to roll on the floor.
Even so, the best and the most wonderful rite of passage is the children that God gives us as his gift to us.
God - has high regard for kids. Look at what David writes in Psalms 127:3-5
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them…
Jesus has a high regard for children too. Look at his words in Matthew 18:1-6 (NLT)
“About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Which of us is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
Jesus called a small child over to him and put the child among them. “Then he said, I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose faith, it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck.”
We are commanded to teach our children about the love of God
And look at the instructions Moses delivered to Israel concerning the raising of children.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Teach them diligently
And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
The critical lesson I’d like to share with you today is the importance of being there to teach your children...
Where? In your home. When you walk on the way. When you go to bed. When you get up.
The important thing is to be there...
Some of you are single moms or dads. Some of you are parents in homes where both hold down jobs. Some of you are in homes where one gets to stay home. I have just a word for all of you.
It is important for you to be "there" when you are there for the kids. The absent father or mother results all too often in an angry violent boy or a promiscous girl - both of which are hungering for love and acceptance.
Quality time is important but quality time cannot be scheduled. Quality time happens when you are there and available. Don’t be there but not "there" - lost in the computer, buried in the paper, or absorbed my a mindless tv show.
Be "there". Be available and look for the teachable moments. Watch for them because they will come at the oddest and most special moments. Even when they are teens they will come.
Once my daughter Shannon came home from school and slammed her way into the house. She stomped down the hall and threw herself on the bed sobbing. I asked if there was anything wrong. She said, "No!" I asked if she wanted to talk. She said, "No!" And then she talked, and talked, and talked. It became a very precious moment of teaching and encouragement.
To teach a child you have to be there in the home, by the wayside, in the morning and at night. Be there for them!
It is a part of your life. You need to teach them with your actions and your thoughts. Teachers of Israel used to take the scriptures about God in Deuteronmy 6:4 and write them on tiny scrolls and put them in a leather box and then attache them to their hands (actions and behavior)and to their foreheads (where you think and consider).
We are bind the teachings of God into the lives of our kids. On their hands and on their foreheads.
We are to teach them at home and in the community.
You cannot live for God at home and live for yourself in the world of school and work. If you try living a double life your kids will see that and mark you "hypocrite" faster than you could possibly imagine.
Your kids are experts on you. They watch you. They examine your morals, your ethics, your language, your behavior. Don’t think for one moment that you can fool them. Live at home for God and love at work for
God.
Two Things we can do for our kids at MCC
1. Pray for our children
The majority of people come to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior before age 18.
2. Provide for ministry to children
Provide an atmosphere of unconditional love.
Final Thought:
Our children are precious. We have to understand that we have been given in their young age, a window of opportunity to affect and influence them to become lovers and followers of Jesus.
Will you Pray and Provide?
Knowing that the children of MCC are put into our care for a few short years will you commit to praying and providing for them?
I ask you to stand right now and to respond with a simple yes to each question as I ask them just now – individually, I ask you to simply, quietly say yes as a personal commitment.
I will not stop and wait for a response. You simply say yes when you agree – don’t worry about speaking in unison as a single voice or being heard by another – this is between you and God – a promise to do your best to pray and provide for these children.
Will you lift these children up along with their parents in prayer on a regular basis?
Will you whenever you think of them by name or see their face remember to say a word – or two to God and ask his blessing?
Will you when you hear of illness or tragedy ask for the intervention of God in their affairs?
When tragedy strikes them or their parents will you fall to your knees and ask for the Spirit’s comfort?
Will you support the ministries of this church as we provide
Will you do whatever you can, whenever you can, with all your abilities, and all your strength to see that these children learn that God loves them and that Jesus is their friend who giving his life has made a way home for all of us?
Let’s close with a prayer asking God’s blessings on us all.
