Question: Have you ever given your children back to God?
What does that mean? When should I do that? How can I do that?
By asking this question: I’m not suggesting that you physically return your children to God
This is what the question means:
Have you recognised your children are a precious gift from the Lord,
and they belong now and always to God first.
God will ask us to put various things on His altar: Today, We’ll look at how we can bring our children and place them in God’s hands.
There are examples of parents in the Bible who brought their children to God in order to give them back to Him:
There is the classic example of 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).
Then there is Joseph and Mary: They brought the infant Jesus to the temple following his circumcision at 8 days. They brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord - (Lk. 2:22).
In these days when crazy things are happening around us, is there help in raising our children?
Is there something that every parent and grandparent can be encouraged with today?
What if my child is grown already?
I BELIEVE THERE IS SOMETHING in today’s message for everyone - not only the 3 parents who are dedicating their babies
That includes all parents, grandparents
No matter what the age of your child is
God loves you and He loves your family
TODAY: Giving Your Children Back To God
STORY: Our girls…Patsy’s parents - that challenged me - I wanted to keep them forever - I didn’t like the thought of them going off - being away from me - when Annalisa moved to China to serve God…
The best thing any of us could ever do for a child is give them back to God
When we entrust or commit our children back to God—we secure for them God’s best purpose and plan for their lives.
Three Components of Giving Our Children Back to God
What does it mean? It means 3 things:
1) Giving our children to God is a DEMONSTRATION of OUR love for God.
The first thing we are saying when we give our child back to the Lord
Is I love God even more than I love my child
(A child is a most prized possession…but scripture instructs us to not let them take the place of God!)
Our attitude is: I love you child, so much so, that I want the very best for you.
If that means giving you to God, disciplining you, giving you limitations (holding the line), and EVEN changing MY life for your benefit…I’ll do whatever it takes!)
Hannah loved God above the most prized treasure of her life...her only son Samuel
Hannah said…
1 Samuel 1:28 Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they worshiped the Lord there.” (NLT)
Jesus said this while He walked on the earth…
Matt. 10:37 If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.
Matt. 10:38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. (NLT)
These are some of the strongest words for families in the new testament
These words are so important because it’s God telling us how we can be positioned for the people most important to us
So the ENTIRE family can have HIS blessing
2) Giving our children to God is a DECLARATION His Will for them is priority.
When we give our child back to God, we are openly declaring that:
This child is a gift from God.
This child does not ultimately belong to me.
(We have the privilege to love and train our children to choose God’s will for their life.
This had to be on Hannah’s mind when she gave Samuel back to the Lord.
She was saying, “Lord, this young man belongs to you—not me”
She was saying, “You do with him as you please. He’s yours!”
Psa. 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the
womb a reward. (ESV)
Note: We’d should be careful how we treat and care for God’s property and His reward!
Note: God did not authorise the state government to raise children. There will be other influencers and people with input. But parents are the ones God authorised to raise children!
It’s important to listen to the Holy Spirit as to who teaches your children
Who you allow to have influence in their lives - ESPECIALLY when they are in the formative years
Government curriculums are drifting further and further away from Godly instruction and values
3) Giving our children to God Is a COMMITMENT to raise them God’s way!
Eph. 6:4 And you, fathers, do not irritate your children, but bring them up tenderly with true Christian training and advice. (Weymouth)
To give our child to God is not just a CEREMONY...It is a COMMITMENT. It
is a commitment that we are going to:
Be a Godly parent. (Parent dedication…requires getting right w/ God)
Teach your child about Christ. (they will need to be saved)
Keep your child in church. (Make church the special event of the week)
Love your child. (Love them unconditionally like God loves you - do all you can do to create an environment with God’s love)
Pray for your child.
Train your child.
Let your children see you pray, read the Word, and worship.
It’s easy to see baby dedication as a magical ceremony. Actually the ceremony means nothing if we are not making a sincere, life-long commitment to raise our children God’s way!
Example: This is what Joshua told the children of Israel as they settled into their new home, the Promised Land.
Josh. 24:14 “Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in
truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of
the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!
Josh. 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for
yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your
fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the
Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will
serve the LORD.”
That’s the kind of commitment God is looking for in parents today! - In this new and modern world - that’s trending further and further away from God
Our children are blessed by our obedience to God
(they have a free will, but we stack the odds in their favour when we honour the Lord by the way WE live!)
As you obey God with your life, and as you give your child back to God, you are posturing your child to receive God’s very best for his/her life.
Pr 22:6 -Train up a child in the way he should go: and 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 DEMONSTRATION of your unequalled love for Christ.
2) It is a DECLARATION that God’s will for them is priority.
3) It is a COMMITMENT to raise the child under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.