Blessed to Give

Child Dedication

1. Doesn’t Save you

2. Commitment of the parents to lead their children up to follow the Lord

1. Tim and Sam Seaman

2. Everett Charles Seaman

a. Name comes from Sam’s side of the family. Sam’s grandfather was named Everett Charles Brown. Tim’s great grandfather was Charles Hamilton Seaman.

i. Both of these men, have a strong reputation for being honest, hard-working gentleman.

3. Tim and Sam are praying over Everett in this way,

a. Luke 2:52 says: And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

i. Tim and Sam’s prayer is that Everett would also grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with God.

Commitments

The Parents

1. Is it your intent to dedicate your child over to the Lord today?

a. If so, say “We do.”

2. Are you willing to teach them to trust Jesus, to Honor God, and to help others? Understanding that this teaching is primarily in how you as parents model a life of faith in Jesus.

a. If so, say “We do.”

The Body

1. Will you the church, as the extended family be committed to help this family? Will you encourage them, come alongside them, and help little Charles know Christ and to make Christ known?

a. If so, say “We do.”

Pray

1. Jeremy and Brie Kadish – Dedicating both

2. Kinsley Mae

a. Kinsley means “King’s Medow, royal, and victory”

b. Mae means “pearl” which biblically speaking would be “Beloved.”

3. Carson John

a. Carson means “anointment or sonship”

b. John means “graced by God”

4. Jeremy and Brie are praying a prayer over Kinsley and Carson that is based on Ecclesiastes 12:1

a. Give them a strong foundation in you that will enable them to remember you as they grow older.

Commitments

The Parents

1.. Is it your intent to dedicate your child over to the Lord today?

a. If so, say “We do.”

2. Are you willing to teach them to trust Jesus, to Honor God, and to help others? Understanding that this teaching is primarily in how you as parents model a life of faith in Jesus.

a. If so, say “We do.”

The Body

3. Will you the church, as the extended family be committed to help this family? Will you encourage them, come alongside them, and help little Charles know Christ and to make Christ known?

a. If so, say “We do.”

Pray.

We are in a series called “Ascend: The Way of Worship.” We are following the songs and journey of pilgrims who would make their way to Jerusalem three times a year for the feasts. These songs of ascent, were designed to tell a story; The story they tell is in many ways consistent with the life of the believer.

I want you to imagine the levels of academics. There are stages that you go through and as you progress the context changes, but you have been better equipped along the way. The material becomes more complicated, but you have been training how to think through the problem, or at least how to do adequate research. Its a constant training ground that continues to move you along a path that is intended to help you mature in your ability to understand.

Or perhaps we could consider an athlete, when they first started picking up a ball, they didn’t know how to through it, shoot it, dribble it. They had to teach their mind and their body. But by the time they get to college, they have become a much better player. One who has the conditioning to play for hours at a time, able to do all kinds of movements with the ball as they dribble, even able to shoot from 40 feet away.

It doesn't matter what task, hobby, job, or activity you choose. This type of development is true of the human experience.

Story of the Pilgrim:

You see, the story of the pilgrim to this point, is that he is experiencing the way of worship. It’s almost like a spiritual map that is laid out for each one of us. It helps us to know what to expect as we grow and mature in our faith.

We once were in a far off place. Participating in wickedness. And when we were called by God to be sons and daughters, forgiven of our sin, the long journey of dying to ourselves and dying to this world began. And it is a hard struggle that we go through when we aim to surgically remove our sinful habits, sinful thoughts, our sinful attitudes. It is strenuous because we try to hand it to God and we soon fall back into the same sin. It’s a repetitive cycle that we struggle to believe we will ever work our way through.

When we finally make it, truly living in surrender, releasing those struggles, we are reminded that its only through God’s strength and provision that we can let them go. No matter how much we try in our own strength, it can’t be done. We recognize the depths of our sin, we plead for forgiveness. We recognize how the Lord has helped us all through the journey. It is never by my own ability that I am able to resist temptation, it is always by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Because if I resist it on my own, there will always be a selfish, sinful motive behind it. I may be able to resist entering into a form on sin on my own, but it is only because I have given myself to another.

The Picture of the pilgrim

You see the picture of the pilgrim, this story that is being told, it is a story of you and of me. It is reflective of the stages of a maturing believer. What we find is that with each stage to this point, there is a regular pattern. In fact, we find the the Psalms of ascent are constructed in triads. Each one seems to represent a stage of life for the believer.

The first in the triad is always a form of lament or crying out to God.

The second is either recognizing His provision or claiming a promise who His character.

Thirdly, we find either celebration of what He has done or a call to greater focus in the pursuit of worshiping His name.

You see, the Christian life is often similar stages lived over and over again. The stages may grow in complexity or look different in context. But each time that it is lived over, there should be a greater dependence on the Lord, a greater trust in God’s ability, a greater conviction and desire to elevate His name above all other names.

You see, the Lord uses life circumstance to remind us again and again of His great power and love for us. Life is designed to teach us and remind us to be dependent on God as we worship Him. As we see this play out our conviction of faith grows, our dependence on Him is given more readily and freely, we learn more and more how to surrender everything.

Today, in our spiritual road map we are wrapping up our third triad in the series in Psalm 128, which calls every believer to give everything within their volitional power to the Lord.

Lets pray and ask the Lord to help us understand this Psalm before we read it together.

Psalm 128 (ESV)

A Song of Ascents.

1 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!

2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

5 The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!

6 May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!

Some of you may have caught the familiar language of verse 1. It’s language that sounds a lot like Jesus. You see it was Jesus who said,

Matthew 5:3–11 (ESV)

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It was Jesus who said,

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

It was Jesus who said,

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

It was Jesus who said,

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

So often, Christianity is perceived as a list of rules. A Bible filled with things we should and and should not do. What we often fail to do is speak of the ongoing blessing that we get to enter into.

It is so evident when you are around a seasoned Christian. One who is spiritually mature, who has been engaged with ministry, who has gone through the valley of the shadow of death. A seasoned Christian is one who has pursued God regardless of life circumstances. Who has learned greater dependence on Him and found intimacy with Him.

I know so many who are seasoned Christians. And they carry some of the deepest joy, they model stability, they are thoughtful cheerleaders who build up and encourage others - getting to see the intentional investments in others pay off.

You see, true Christianity brings us before the throne of God. When we learn to be in God’s presence moment by moment, there is transformation in us that brings about a form of blessing that could not otherwise be known.

In order to move towards this type of blessing, this transformative healing, our Psalmist boils it down to two keys.

Both of which are found in verse 1

Psalm 128:1 “1 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!

Blessed is everyone who:

Fears God

Walks in His ways.

What does it mean to fear God?

it’s an important question, because it is only when we fear God that we will truly walk in His ways. The fear of God drives us to a place where we wouldn’t consider living any other way.

Pastor who fell

I am aware of a well known pastor who served for many years. After some time, he found himself caught up in different forms of sin; ultimately leading to him being dismissed from the church where he was serving. A friend of his came to him and said,

“I don’t understand, I have seen you weep for people over the gospel, I have seen you weep in response to the gospel. I have never doubt your salvation and I have always thought of you as a godly man. But I don’t know how to reconcile this, I don’t understand how this could be going on behind the scenes.” Then he asked, “When did you stop loving Jesus?”

The pastor responded, “I never stopped loving Jesus. My problem is that I never learned to what it means to fear Him.”

You see, loving God and fearing God should go hand in hand. But if we only ever pay attention to either His love or our fear of Him, it will drive us to a faith that collapses. Meaning that if we elevate the way Jesus loves, if we skip out on how He is also perfect in justice, or if we humanize him to the point that we forget to ponder how great is His glory, we will never learn to fear Him.

The issue is that fearing God and loving God often overlap in function. Which means it is as much about posture as it is function. Because we experience His love through His mercy and we come to fear Him for His justice.

Fearing God, is respecting Him enough to seek Him out. It is when we not only read His word and spend time in prayer, but when we meditate on it. When we sit and ponder all that God is. When we ask hard questions and bring them before His throne seeking clarity. When we are driven to study the weightier matters of His word with great intensity.

By pursuing Him in this way, we haven’t yet learned the fear of God. The fear of God comes out of this initial hunger and desire for Him.

To fear God means we must recognize Him as the greatest, ultimate authority. There is no other who He needs to confer with or report to. He is the final authority on everything.

To fear God means that we are humbled by His greatness. It means that we see Him with enough clarity in authority as well as His greatness. That there is no other who is remotely close to Him. No other who is remotely as wise, kind, powerful, loving.

You see to fear God means that you have some grasp of His Glory. That His very presence radiates a thousand times brighter than the Sun.

That He is totally above every one and every thing. There is no equal, no one similar, nothing that can even begin to compare to any one aspect of who He is. This all means that He is Holy.

You see to fear God means to revere Him. It is taking on that posture of reverence. It’s when He becomes the greatest priority in our life. But its not like we can simply do this on our own. We do not have the volitional ability to simply categorize our life priorities. Instead, its an intentional step taken each day, as we commit ourselves wholly to Him. As we enter into His presence practicing reverence. As we walk through the trials of life and we run to the Father again and again. We learn over time, how to develop and cultivate this posture and it primarily comes from the transformative work of His Holy Spirit when we open ourselves up day after day for Him to do a work in us. Asking, every day for Him to take more of us away and replace it more and more with the image of Jesus.

This is the pattern, the stages of these Psalms of Ascent. Its a repetitive pattern of three steps that take place again and again. Along the way we find greater depth and sweeter intimacy.

To fear God, means to give God everything. Not holding back in your finances, in your time, in your ability, in your intentionality, in your family. It is when day after day, we aim to give Him all of who we are that we will become seasoned, mature believers who are greatly blessed by His hand.

Not just fear.

2. Walk in His ways.

Walking in His ways simply means learning His heart by seeking for it through the scriptures. Applying it to our lives and daily inviting Him to have His way with us.

You see, if we can do this, then the Holy Spirit will readily and quickly begin to do a work in you that you cant explain. Where you have struggled to let go of sin, you will find that your struggle changed.

It used to be that when you were tempted you would just try to refrain. That you would hold yourself back from indulging, from engaging in sinful patterns and behaviors.

But the seasoned believer, who has learned to fear God. This is someone who doesnt need to give so much time, energy and focus to saying “no” to their temptations. Instead, they can be tempted and simply turn and worship God. You see there is far greater freedom to deny earthly desires and to enter into the joy of the Lord. It’s by recognition that this temptation is a lie leading to destruction. But if I reject the lie and grab hold of the truth it is as simple as this,

There is far greater joy and blessing in life when we just worship the Lord.

It’s in Deuteronomy 30 where the Lord has just renewed the covenant with the people of Israel. He spends half the chapter explaining that sin is death and God’s ways are life. When you choose to indulge, to give into temptation, you are choosing to die.

He concludes by saying

Deuteronomy 30:19 “19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,”

A sign for all of us today, a sign that we need to repent, that we need to adjust our way of thinking is this,

We rarely think of our sin as choosing death.

It’s a bad habit, its a way that I stumbled, its something I am working through.

We have all kinds of ways that we talk about sin as if it is not that bad. It’s a reflection of our lack of fear for God.

We must deal seriously with sin. We must understand that it is no small issue.

We must also understand that the Lord is a God of forgiveness and mercy, who in His grace will restore you if you run to Him.

The Lord calls us to life. He calls us to a type of freedom and joy that words cannot express. This Psalm, is a volitional call for all of us. It’s a call to repent of sin in your life, to places where you have turned a blind eye. It’s a call to submit yourself to the Lord with everything you have in you.

Because when we learn to fear God and walk in His ways, there are richer and deeper blessings that will change your reality.

Lets quickly consider some of these blessings that are promised:

Psalm 128:2–6 (ESV)

2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

5 The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!

6 May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!

The promise of the Psalm is that the Lord would provide fruit in your labor,

Your relationships will be blessed. Your spouse - your kids - your close relationships will be of great value in how you are blessed through them and how you are able to bless them. Beyond that, in the time of the Psalmist, more children equalled a greater work force which indicated an increase in the family welfare. Indicate that the blessings from the Lord would grow in time.

A life built on fearing God and living His way is moving from death to life. But not just any life, a life of deep and rich blessings that continue to grow in time.

The principle that we learn in this passage is that God has freely invited us out of death into a life of intimacy with Him. When we revere Him, walking in His ways, He brings great blessing into our souls. But the key to the whole passage is that its a circular pattern.

You see God continues to generously bless our lives as we continue to freely give ourselves fully to Him.