Dedication - Children, Parents, Congregation

Good morning. Today we will be doing a child dedication for my daughter Ellie. Later Don will come up to help with that. Thank you for everyone that made it today. Everyone here, and other family members that couldn’t make it, have played a crucial role in both Heather and I’s lives. From the years of us just praying to be parents, to present where now Ellie is almost 2 and a half, and everyone has made an impact in her life as well.

This is a day that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.

It took longer than we had planned to even have Ellie, but everything happened in God’s timing, His plan is perfect. everything happens at just the right time. God’s plan is never too early, or too late, but at just the right time. Every child is a blessing, a gift of life, and they are most importantly an image bearer of God. And today we want to acknowledge God’s goodness, give Him thanks, and also very importantly pray for His guidance as we continue on this journey of raising the child He has blessed us with.

We all have a different connection or role to Ellie, whether the great grandparents, grandparents, Heather and I as parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends. Our relationship is different but there is one thing every one of us shares in common in that relationship. And that’s that we desire her to follow Christ when she’s old enough to make that decision. Obviously Heather and I will have the biggest impact of guiding and leading her, but each and every one of you will also help Heather and I in different ways as we go down that path, which impacts Ellie.

We have this ceremony today planned, and obviously it’s around Ellie, but really dedication to God is a daily thing. Whether it be how want to help guide Ellie to make the right decisions or other loved ones in our lives. We must dedicate ourselves to God. Because a dedication is not about saying “okay God, this person’s spiritual well-being is in your hands now, I have no part”. It is true, that God is the only that can change a heart, but we do play a crucial role as his hands and feet and teaching those around us.

Today is just as much about challenging us to dedicate our lives to God. So that we that as we grow closer to God we’ll also be better spiritual leaders.

[ Prayer ]

The main scriptures we’re going to discuss today are in Romans 12:1-2. But before we go there, I want to read Luke 2:22.

In this scripture from Luke, It is about Mary and Joseph taking baby Jesus to the temple to be dedicated to God.

Luke 2:22 NLT

22 Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

Now there are reasons why it was called the purification offering and why it was a part of the law to do this, but some of them are out of context for what we’re going through today so I won’t explain some of those details. But I just want to point out a couple things, first Jesus was dedicated at the temple of God as a baby. That’s what it means where it says “He was presented to the Lord”. I want us to look at the word used for “present”. The Greek word used there is Paristemi. The word Paristemi can mean “to stand beside”, "to be present," "to present," "to offer," or "to provide". So when he was presented at the Temple, it meant he was offered to the Lord. Dedicated.

This word Paristemi, is used in the scripture from Romans that we’ll be going through today.

And before we dive into Romans 12. I also want to give a quick snippet of context on the book and previous 11 chapters. Romans is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to believers in Rome. And the first 11 chapters talk about God and his wonderful mercy and promises for us. It establishes the core doctrine of Justification by Faith. Showing that we are sinful and in need of salvation, provided through our savior Jesus Christ. And that we receive this gift through faith in Christ and what He has done for us instead of our own works.

And now in chapter 12, he starts to transition the letter. So lets’s read Romans 12:1.

Romans 12:1 NLT

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Since Paul is talking to believers, he references them as brothers and sisters, and he says I plead with you. Here Paul is begging them. The word plead here or in other translations might say urge, or beseech. It comes from the Greek word Parakaleo. It is a compound of two words Para and Kaleo. Para means alongside, and the word Kaleo means to call or to beckon. When the words are compounded, the new word represents a person who comes alongside someone, as close as he can get, and then begins to passionately call out, please, beckon, or beg another or group of people to do something. Paul is urging as them as much as he can through a letter to listen to what he has to say.

Which is, to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. The word “Give” there, comes from the Greek word Paristemi. Which is what we talked about earlier when Jesus was offered and dedicated at the temple. It may sound weird when it says give your bodies, but Paul is saying offer everything you have. You body encompasses your heart, soul, mind, and everything you are.

In Matthew 22:37, the word of Jesus say:

Matthew 22:37 NLT

37 Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’

This is what Paul is pleading the Christians in Rome to strive for. And it’s the same message for all of us today. The same grace that God had for all of those early Christians in the ancient times, is the same grace that’s poured out for everyone today. And we must accept it. And at the time of accepting Christ as our savior and putting our faith in Him, that is justification by Faith. Which is what was covered in the first 11 chapters. And then we commit ourselves to God’s work and will. That is a sacrifice God will find acceptable. And at the end, Paul says “This is truly the way to worship him.” In other translations it reads it a “reasonable service”. What it means is this is a logical thing to do. Understanding salvation that God has offered to us freely, and then look at what he asks of us, it doesn’t take a lot of brain power to realize that it’s very reasonable and logical to offer ourselves in service to the Lord in light of what he’s done for us.

So how do we as Christians give our bodies to God and love him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind?

I think this is where we often overthink things, even if our heart is in the right place. We can get worried and anxious about it, sit there trying to think that we must have this great revelation from God and hear God’s audible voice to go out and do exactly what he wants of us. We want it to be so spiritual.

But that’s not what’s required. And the reality is it’s something we will never fully accomplish, perfection is impossible for us to achieve, because we still battle with the flesh. But, there is a progression in how we serve the Lord. This is the process of sanctification. We are constantly changing and being molded everyday. And sanctification is the power of God working in us. Which is a great thing because that means us serving the Lord is also dependent on the Lord helping us. And if the Lord asks that of us, is he going to help? Of course.

But it comes down to these little steps everyday of either allowing the world to conform you or God transforming you.

Romans 12:2 NLT

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

We were just talking about how do we do the will of God and even know what his will is in your life. Paul gives the answer here. You want to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Resist the world, let God transform you by changing the way you think. It is the renewing of your mind. In the Bible mind and heart are used interchangeably. When you accept Christ into your life, you are a new creation and God will begin doing a divine work in your life changing you through and through. But all the distractions and temptations of the world want to pull us the other direction, and sometimes we get caught up in all the wrong stuff. And when we are most distant from God is when He is just someone we check-in with every once in a while. The Bible says you will know who are followers of God by their fruit. By their good works. The only way to produce good works is through a relationship with God.

I briefly mentioned it before, but good works and how we grow I think is too often thought of incorrectly. We think we must have some intervention from God and a dramatic supernatural event. like Moses and the burning bush. When you accepted Christ in your life, that was a supernatural event where God came to live within you by the Holy Spirit. You’re equipped to go out and do great works for God already. He just says walk with me and be willing. Good works don’t have to be mission trips across the world, it can be how you help your neighbor. How you help the little ones around you. How you love and lead your family. Every little interaction and situations we have in life we’re given an opportunity. Live like the world or like Christ. Conform to the world or be transformed by God.

Recently Heather and I started a business. Now there’s a lot of things that I know how to do with the product and service we sell, BUT in terms of how to run and grow a business. Pretty clueless. Lots of trial and error. There’s a lot of information out in the world that can help accelerate some learning. However some is better than others. For me to say which advice is good or bad is hard for me to determine because I’m the one seeking to learn, so it’s hard for me to discern. BUT there are some sources I can listen to trust fully. I’m blessed that my grandpa and brother-in-law Oliver both have or still run successful businesses. And I have gotten lots of great advice from them.

Now why would I trust them so confidently? Yes they’re family, but I have lots of family members, yes they run a businesses, but anyone can technically start and own a business. You just gotta get registered. The reason I trust them so much is because they’ve run profitable businesses. Their businesses generate enough money where the business keep some of the money, they can pay themselves and feed their family, and pay others and feed those families.

If someone claims to own a business but it doesn’t generate money and or you don’t spend much time on it and it runs like that for an extended period of time, people often would say that’s a hobby not a business. Because you’re just doing it when you want to, not relying on it to do much, you don’t dedicate yourself to it that much. It’s a hobby.

We don’t all have businesses, but all of us who are believers have a relationship with Christ. Is our lives and the relationship we have with God a hobby to us, or are we dedicated to Him. Are we willing to go through the doors he asks us to. Big or small. If an unbeliever had questions about God, perhaps an interest in seeing what it’s all about. Would they consider you someone worth taking advice from on this matter.

So many of the great men and woman you read of in the Bible did not start out by saying yeah I want to serve the Lord in the exact way you read about. Moses told God I don’t know how to speak well, so don’t send me to pharaoh. God won that argument. He eventually used moses to lead the people out of Israel split the red sea and lead them to the entrance of the promised land.

God doesn’t ask us to have things figured out, he just asks for a willing heart. He wants us to offer up ourselves in service. Study the word of God and be willing to serve, and He will lead you through the right doors and establish the right relationships, and produce good works through you.