Life Together

Good morning and welcome to Crossroads! We’re so glad you’re here!

To kick things off this morning, we’re going to do something that we don’t normally do, but it’s a really fun, good, and biblical thing. Today, we have a group of children whose parents would like to dedicate them to the Lord!

Now, depending on your church background—or maybe your lack thereof—child dedication might be a foreign or even a strange concept for you. So before we proceed, I want to take a few minutes to explain what child dedication is and why we practice it in this way.

At Crossroads, we practice child dedication instead of infant baptism because of our conviction from the Scriptures regarding the nature of baptism. While this isn’t an issue we want to argue about or even necessarily divide over, the leadership at Crossroads believes our practice best aligns with biblical teaching on baptism and dedication.

And to understand the difference between the two, consider this metaphor: We believe that Scripture presents baptism as a kind a marriage ceremony, where a person publicly commits their life to Christ and invites the community of Christ to hold them to their commitment or vows.

Child dedication, on the other hand, is more akin to the commitment made by parents to raise and teach their children about God and His ways, just as they would prepare them for a future marriage by modeling for them what a good marriage looks like and what it means to be a good and godly spouse.

Ultimately, the choice to follow Jesus, like the choice to get married, rests with the individual. Just as we cannot decide who our children will marry, we also cannot decide their relationship with God. Each individual must make their own choice to follow Jesus.

And so, we believe that baptism is a public declaration of faith, signifying an existing relationship with Jesus, where by someone who has responded to the gift of grace in Jesus now desires to take their relationship public. It’s marriage ceremony.

By contrast, child dedication is a commitment made by parents and the church community to raise children in the ways of the Lord. It’s about modeling a healthy spiritual relationship with Jesus and praying for our children to one day choose to follow Jesus themselves.

And this tradition of both baptism and child dedication is rooted in the Bible. It’s a biblical thing!

In the old testament (1 Sam. 1), we see Hannah bringing her son Samuel to God’s temple and the faith community of their day to dedicate him to the Lord. And also in the New Testament (Luke 2) we see Mary and Joseph practicing a very similar thing when they bring their son Jesus to the temple on the 8th day to be circumcised and dedicated to the Lord. Mary and Joseph, just like Hannah made a public commitment to raise their children as children of God’s covenant. They would teach their kids of God’s goodness and his ways and pray for God to grant them the gift of faith and service in His covenant community!

Today, as parents bring their children forward, they are committing to the same thing, to nurture spiritual growth in Jesus for their children.

In a tangible way it’s a commitment to live out and practice the command found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 which states:

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 NIV

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 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. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

And thus, child dedication is a pledge to provide godly instruction and protection for your kids as well as invitation for us, your faith community, to help and hold you accountable to this goal!

So with this in mind then, I’ll invite the gaggle of kids and their parents up to do just that!

Affirmation:

Parents, as you prepare to dedicate your children—Obadiah, Jediddiah, Otto, Amberly, Theodore, Octavian, Beckett, Tate, Jack, Rhett, Lucy, and Millie— I’ll invite you to affirm the following:

“Do you recognize these children as gifts from God and pledge to raise them in the nurture and love of the Lord? If so, please respond, ‘We do.’”

Thanks you!

Alright, and now, as these parents commit to nurturing their children in the faith of Jesus, and because it takes a village to raise good and godly kids, I invite you, people of Crossroads Church, to affirm your commitment to support these parents in this important task. Will you pledge to assist these parents in raising their children in the knowledge and love of the Lord and will you commit to pray for them?

If so, please respond with “We do.”

Dedication:

Now, I know this is going to take a few minutes, but in an effort to make this as personal as possible, I’d like to take some time to pronounce a dedication over these kids by laying may hands on them and speaking a blessing over them.

And let me just say, before I get into this, if it takes me a few names to get your child’s name right, know that we’re family, because I regularly call my children by their three siblings’ names before I get to theirs!

“On behalf of your parents, and as a spiritual leader in your life, we as a church family dedicate this child, _____________, to the Lord in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May the Lord bless you and keep you; may His face shine upon you. May He be gracious unto you and give you peace.” Amen.

Prayer of Dedication:

And now, let’s pray together:

“Lord, thank you for Obadiah, Jediddiah, Otto, Amberly, Theodore, Octavian, Beckett, Tate, Jack, Rhett, Lucy, Millie, and for sweet little Lydia. We praise you, Lord, for the joy they bring and the potential they represent. We declare the truth: children are a blessing, like arrows in the hands of a warrior; blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them! Thank you for filling the quiver of Crossroads with so many children! Help us teach them Your ways and remind them of Your mighty acts, so that this generation will grow to tell the next of Your works! Shape their hearts and minds, and fill their parents with love and wisdom. Help this community consider how to spur them on toward love and good deeds, and help us encourage one another all the more as we see the Day of Christ’s return approach!”

Intro: (Title Screen)

Alright, let’s do a quick review before we get into our text for this morning. If you’ll remember, we’re taking aim at our target focusing in on our Identity as a people of God. Who are we? Who does God say that we are? Who do we want to become like and how are we going to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in this process of becoming?

Well we’ve said in our first message that Jesus is at the center of our target. Right. It’s all about Jesus! Because of Jesus, through faith in Jesus, by personal intimate relationship with Jesus, He has equipped and empowered us to become more like Himself! So we said, we are first and foremost a people who will seek to become more like Jesus in how we think speak and act!

Then we said alright, if we’re equipped through the gospel of Jesus to become more like Jesus, how do we go about doing that? And we painted in the next ring on our target of who we are as a people. We are a people who are guided by the Bible and the Holy Spirit!

We need both — the word and the spirit — to guide us in our becoming more like Jesus in how we think, speak and act!

And because that is a messy and hard process to live out, I mean come on, who in here does a good job every day of thinking, speaking, and acting like Jesus always? It’s a high bar, it’s a tall order and so last week, we reminded one another that we are a people under grace rather than law! We are a people who treat weakness with gentleness and love! Why? Well because that’s how Jesus treats our weakness! His power is perfected in our weakness! His sacrifice covers over our sin and weakness!

What this means is that we no longer live as legalists or licentious people! We don’t live under legalism! Legalism believes that God’s grace gives us a reset but the rest is up to our ability to follow the rules! We don’t live under legalism…

And we also don’t live under license.

If legalism asserts that our relationship with God depends on our performance and ability to keep the law, license suggests the opposite extreme— it suggests that God grace gives us license to live however we want, that there are no rules!

Neither are good and neither are true! No we are a people who treat weakness with gentleness and love, which means, we understand that we’re all in process and while none of us are perfect yet, we really really want to look more like Jesus and so we hold each other accountable to that goal!

Here’s the reality of salvation: When Christ grants us the gift of faith to believe and trust in Him and His work on the cross and resurrection, we get a sure standing in relationship with Him and also we get new desires! His sacrifice covers over our sins and weakness. There’s no condemnation for us, but rather we can come confidently before the Father without guilt and we want to. We want to relate with God and we want do do what He says! Living under grace changes our desires!

This is what the first part of Hebrews 10 is about! Hebrews 10:1-18 is all about the difference between living under the Law and living under Grace!

In there, we’re reminded that God has never about us living out rote rules!

Hebrews 10:5–7 (NIV)

5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”

It’s always been a matter of relationship for God. He wants our hearts! He wants us to want Him and to want to do His will! Apart from grace this was impossible but no longer? Why?

Well because of Jesus, our great high priest who intercedes on our behalf! Because of Jesus our once for all sin offering that covers over our guilt and gives us new wanters! A saving relationship with Jesus gives us new desires and new wanters!

Look at what Hebrews 10:16 says

Hebrews 10:16 (NIV)

16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

Loved ones, do you want to know how to have assurance of salvation. Ask yourself, what’s my attitude towards sin? Do I treat grace as a freedom to indulge sinful things or do I hate sin and desire to live holy and righteously before God in obedience to His will outlined in His word guided by His Spirit!

And along with this, if you desire to flee from sin (I’m not saying you always do a good job of it, but you want to!) You’re not going about claiming that God celebrates sinful things, no you know what sin is and you want to flee from it! And along with that, you feel deeply connected with God. You have confidence to relate with the Father because you know you’re not standing on your ability to keep the law, but you’re standing upon Christ’s ability to do it in and through you and cover over your weakness when you fail!

If you’re here in your thinking and living, then you should have assurance that you’re saved!

This is a new and radical way of living made possible by Jesus’ life, death and resurrection! And if you respond to this good news with faith, your desires will transform. You’ll want to draw near to the Father and your heart will be very sincere in that desire.

This is what Hebrews 10:19-22 says. Vv. 19-22 tell us that there is confidence to be found in Christ’s community.

Hebrews 10:19–22 (NIV)

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

This is true Church and it’s crazy good news! These words and the truth they convey are so insanely powerful! They’ve changed the world. They are changing the world, but let’s be honest, sometimes these truths don’t feel true do they. Sometimes, the gospel of Jesus doesn’t feel all that powerful does it. In our own personal struggle against sin, as we walk through this life and are confronted on a daily basis with the realities of living in a fallen world, sometimes we can question the truth and power of the gospel.

There’s a social worker who goes to our Church, recently she was trying to find a placement for a young girl in our foster care system and she struggled to do so. Apparently this is a common thing, finding placement for kids who’ve been abandoned and are now wards of the state and as you can imagine the stories are truly heart wrenching. Abuse, neglect, trauma!

In speaking with the working trying to live out her faith in this context, she said to me, sometimes, I’m just like God where are you! Where are you! I’ve got a friend of mine who’s going through a terrible divorce at the moment, he’s turned his life over to Christ but things don’t appear to be changing or at least not very quickly and if I’m not careful, I can start to question the power of God and His gospel!

Because our world is fallen and sinful, because sin is still present in the flesh of even believers, sometimes evil and sin seem more powerful that the truth that God is doing something and He has done something insanely powerful through Jesus Christ!

Because living in light of the truth and because living under grace is a struggle, we need to fight! We need to fight for faith! We need to fight to persevere under suffering!

And I praise God that He has not sent us out to fight alone!

No! And I say this all the time, you may have been alone when God saved you, but if He’s saved you, you never remain alone! When you’re adopted into the family of God, you are adopted into a family! And the reality is that we desperately need each other!

We need each other to help us remember the truth! We need each other to carry the burdens that exist because we live in a fallen, sinful world bent on proclaiming lies about God and His goodness and sowing seeds of chaos, death and destruction!

We need each other to remember the hope, we’ve been given. One day, Jesus us will make all the bad things in the world come untrue! One day, everything bad and broken will be made new! There will be no death or dying and we will live in the unending joy of being with God. He will be our God and we will be His people! And we can find confidence of this hope within Christ’s community!

But to remember and to live in light of this hope is a fight isn’t it!? It is and here in Hebrews, it’s a fight we’re commanded to take up, not just as individuals but as members of the community of faith. It’s important that we fight to cultivate heart level connetions within Christ’s community!

Look at it with me:

Hebrews 10:23–25 (NIV)

23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Even in these couple verses we can see echos of our target can’t we?

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess!

I want you to picture yourself sailing in a boat through a fierce storm. It’s raging all around you. You’re boat is being tossed and turned, blown ever which way, and there you are, in the midst of it, holding on for dear life. Clutching the ropes with all that you have.

That’s the picture here and the command. Hold fast. Hold on for dear life. To what?

To the hope we profess, and Church remember, remember this hope is not just a profession! This hope is a person! A person who promised and who is faithful! Even when we are faithless. He is faithful because He can’t deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13). He is good, noble and true, Always and forever. He, Jesus, is who we hold fast to! Jesus is at the center of our target!

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds?

How would we know what’s good, how do we know what true love is? By being guided by God’s word and His Spirit!

Giving grace for one another too be sure. Understanding we’re all in process! We treat weakness with gentleness and love, with grace to be sure, but we never remove our eyes from the prize. No the goal is to spur each other on! Not towards indifference to sin! No we call each other out, we spur one another on in the fight for faith, in the fight to hold fast to Jesus and live out the love of Jesus and the freedom of Jesus every day! We spur each other on to love like Jesus, to serve like Jesus!

And loved ones, please don’t miss this, we do this together!

We don’t neglect gathering together as some are in the habit of doing, but we regularly and intentionally connect with one another at a heart level, why? To encourage one another as the day of redemption and judgement draws near which is our hope!

vv. 10:24-25 show us that this drawing near to one another with sincere hearts is commanded! It’s vital to our faith and spiritual endurance.

These verses. paint a picture of us as coals. Like coals in a fire, if we stay in the fire close to the other coals, we stay hot. We stay spurred along, but if we remove ourselves from the communal fire so to speak, we’re in danger of having our light blown out!

Which is why the author of Hebrews says what he says in vv. 26-31. Sin is dangerous and so He gives us a cautionary word to stand guard against willful sin and He raises the importance of mutual accountability!

We are called to hold each other accountable, to judge one another in our lives and our godliness, not to shame each other but to healthily correct one another and you guessed it spur one another on towards love and good deeds!

We can see the confidence of Christ’s community, the importance of cultivating sincere heart level connections within Christ’s community, the Cautionary checks and corrections we’re meant to offer one another as we live life together in Christ’s community and lastly if you were to go study vv. 32-39 you’d see the importance of staying connected with the community so that we can perseverance in the faith.

The chapter ends with a statement about our identity as a people and community of God.

The author says:

Hebrews 10:39 (NIV)

39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

We are not a people who shrink back! We are not a people who are destroyed! We are a people of faith! We are a people who are saved!

I heard an amazing definition for faith this past week in my Bible study!

Here’s what JD Greear said faith is:

Faith believes that God can! It believes that God is bigger than any of my problems and that He can fix whatevers broken and heal whatever hurts.

Faith believes that God can.

Faith expects that God will! God’s will is to heal. His will is to deliver! His will is to give strength and to perfect my faith and to finish what He’s started! He can and He will!

We’re good with the first two of these aren’t we.

Yeah. Believe! Yeah. Expect! We’re more than conquerors! Take the hill! Storm the gates of Hell! Yeah!

But what of when He doesn’t. What about when He says not yet, to our prayers? What about when He lets us stay in our circumstances? What about when He gives us a cross of suffering to bare? What about when God doesn’t. Faith believes God can. Faith Expects God will and true, real faith, trusts God even when He doesn’t!

And this is where our faith is tested isn’t it? We are not a people who shrink back and are destroyed, no we a people who live and walk by faith! A people who believe, expect and trust God to save! We hold unswerving to that hope not matter what it looks or feels like!

And this is why we need to regularly and intentionally connect with one another at a heart level!

Everyone of the saints in here and who’ve gone before us, have stories of belief and expectations fulfilled in powerful ways. Stories of miraculous change and transformation! Of miraculous healing and redemption and we also have stories of when God say no or not yet and we were forced to walk with Jesus through the valley of the shadow of death! Many in here have walked, are walking through that valley and they are still trusting. They are still holding fast to the hope they’ve professed, to the person of Jesus Christ. Why? Because they believe God can. He’s bigger. They expect that He will. God is better than any other alternative. He’s good and He desires good for His children! And they trust Him enough to hold fast unswervingly to this truth regardless of their circumstances.

And Friends we need to gather regularly to share these stories! We need to be reminded regularly, that we can Trust God even when He doesn’t!

Folks, I don’t care about Church attendance. I don’t, I’m glad people come to hopefully hear some good gospel preaching, but hear me in our busy world with all the things competing for your time and attention! I implore you, do not give up gathering together. In small groups, in big groups, in Church worship gatherings! Do not give up gathering together as has been the habit of some! Make the sacrifices to regularly and intentionally connect with a few other Christians on a heart level and watch what God will do!

So many people complain about their lack of connection they sense with the Father? He’s always there friends! You can draw near to God with a sincere heart whenever and whereever you want, but if you neglect the fellowship of God’s people, your connection and encouragement is going to wain!

The Church is often said to be God’s hands and feet! If you don’t know any other Christians at a heart level and if they don’t know you at a heart level, if you’re not regularly and intentionally connecting with the hands and feet of Jesus, is it any wonder you don’t feel or sense the touch of God’s love in your life?

I don’t say this to guilt or shame anyone, I say this with the heart of the Father, come back to me! Draw near to me confidently and live! Get found in the community of Crossroads. Be free to flee from sin and Live!

We are a people who regularly and intentionally connect with one another at a heart level!

Point to your neighbor and tell them. I’m going to hold you to that!

Pray.