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Today is one of those special days in our church family. Today, we have parents who are dedicating their children to the Lord.
Archie and Rachel Tajan are dedicating Noah and Emanuela.
Tom and Jessica Proctor are dedicating Garret.
At this time I would like them to come forward.
First, I would like to explain what a Child Dedication is, and is not.
A child dedication is not providing salvation for the child. There is one way to be saved, and that is by God’s grace through faith in Jesus. There is not other way. So, a child dedication does not provide salvation.
Well, then what is a child dedication? I believe there are few defining characteristics in child dedication.
Here is the first:
To dedicate our children to the Lord is to acknowledge that they are a gift given to us by the Lord.
To dedicate our children to the Lord is to acknowledge that they are a gift given to us by the Lord.
Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
As gifts from the Lord, we have a responsibility to care for these precious gifts.
In the book of 1 Samuel, we read of Hannah. Hannah had gone to the temple and prayed asking the Lord for the child. After the child was born, she raised him until he was old enough, and then she took him to the temple, saying,
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.
To Dedicate our Children to the Lord is to entrust them into His hands.
They truly are His children, and as a part of His creation their chief purpose is to love and glorify Him. and we need to entrust them into His hands to live for Him.
However, living for Him and His glory will not come naturally to them, just as it does not come naturally to us.
To dedicate our children is to dedicate ourselves to raising them up as Hannah did, as the Lord commanded.
Hear, O 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.
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.
Impress them on 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.
In these verses from Deuteronomy, we find how we need to raise our children.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. We need to train our children to know the One true God, the Creator, the great three-in-one, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The second part: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. We need to train our children to love the LORD.
The commands are to be on their hearts. They must believe in their hearts and live in faith in the Lord that His ways are right, and salvation comes only from Him, by His grace, through faith.
We are told to impress His word on them. They need to obey Him.
As Jesus said,
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
To know him, love him and believe in him, should lead to a life of obedience. Doing what He has commanded. So, we need to impress the commands of God on the children as we bring them up in the Lord.
To Dedicate our children to the Lord, is to:
To Dedicate our children to the Lord, is to:
Acknowledge they are a gift from the Lord
Entrust them into His Hands
Dedicate ourselves to raising them to know, love, trust and obey the Lord.
That is why Archie and Rachel, and Tom and Jessica are here today. They have said that they wish to dedicate their children to the Lord. So, you will all be witnesses to this as they make vows of dedication.
Archie and Rachel, Tom and Jessica, I will be asking you a series of questions regarding dedicating your children to the Lord. If you wish to do so, please answer by saying, “We do.”
Tom and Jessica, do you:
Acknowledge that Garrett is a gift to you from the Lord?
Commit to caring for and encouraging Garrett as a gift from God for which you have been given stewardship?
Entrust Garrett into His Hands?
Dedicate yourselves to raising Garrett to know, love, trust and obey the Lord?
Archie and Rachel, do you:
Acknowledge that Noah and Emanuela are gifts to you from the Lord?
Commit to caring for and encouraging Noah and Emanuela as gifst from God for which you have been given stewardship?
Entrust Noah and Emanuela into His Hands?
Dedicate yourselves to raising Noah and Emanuela to know, love, trust and obey the Lord?
Congregation:
You are all witnesses of these vows of dedication. It is your duty as a witness to encourage these parents, and their children as you have opportunity. This calls for the parents and for you as witnesses to not forsake gathering together in the Lord’s name for mutual encouragement and edification.
Do you vow to be faithful witnesses who will help, encourage and exhort these parents as they raise the children? If so, say, “I Will.”
Do you vow to be faithful members of this body to use your gifts and abilities to help train these children to know, love, trust and obey the Lord as you have opportunity? If so, say, “I will.”
Tom and Jessica, Archie and Rachel, you have dedicated your children and yourselves to the Lord. This is no trivial matter. It will take discipline, patience and wisdom, more than you can handle.
Congregation, you have vowed to be faithful witnesses who will support and encourage these parents and their children. Let us not take this lightly. Jesus said to let your yes be yes, and your no be no. If you have taken that vow here before the Lord, let us remain faithful to those vows.
And, let us remember,
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.
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. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.
Let us pray and ask the Lord to work in these parents and their children. Let us ask the Lord to work in all of us and each of our homes to build us up in Christ! We in our strength are weak, but He is strong!