“Dedicating Our Children”
Text: Genesis 22:1-18
9-15-2024
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, our Rock and our Redeemer. Well, for the past 3 weeks we’ve been examining the important doctrine of forgiveness. And I promised there was only one more sermon that I had planned on it. However, we’re going to take a break because the Christian education of our children is also of vital importance. That’s what we’re going to look into this morning.
Now, I dare say that the majority of you here were born and raised as Lutherans, so the whole concept of Infant Baptism is second nature to you. As horrible as the prospect may be to consider, if one of our young children were to die we could find comfort in the promises of God which that child received in Baptism. But what if you belong to a different protestant denomination, one that denies that this Sacrament is a Means of Grace which is effective for people of all ages? How then would you cope with the possibility of your child dying? You certainly would want to know that your child is in heaven, right? But if you don’t believe that Baptism gives you the assurance of that for your infant child, then what do you do? Where do you turn? Several denominations attempt to solve this perplexing dilemma by the practice of “dedicating” their children.
Infant dedication attempts to gain the same comforting assurance as Infant Baptism, minus the water. But sadly, it falls short because not only is the water missing, so is the Word and promise of God found in Baptism. On the other hand, though, far too many Lutherans fail to recognize that they are also dedicating their child to God in Holy Baptism. To “dedicate” simply means total devotion, that is, setting something aside for a specific purpose. In Baptism, we are devoting our children to God. In a very real sense, we are dedicating them to God for Him to care for and use for His special purpose. And yet, the Lord leaves them in our care even as we dedicate them to Him. This is the sacred duty that God has given to us. Not only to parents and grandparents, but it’s also a sacred responsibility of the whole Church. As we prepare to begin a new season of Christian Education, we would do well to reexamine that God-given duty. And we need to start by asking the question: Who or what are we dedicating our children to?
The Bible gives us both positive and negative examples of people dedicating their children in rather dramatic ways. As difficult as it may be to consider, lets tackle the negative one first. In ancient times there were diverse religions being practiced in and around the area that we now know as Israel. Many of them had alluring, sexual rituals for the worship of their pagan gods. They also sacrificed animals to their false deities. But the neighboring Ammonites took this worship to a horrific new low. Their god was named Molech. He was depicted as having a man’s body with the head of an ox. A huge, bronze image of him was built with its hands extended. The statue was hollow and they’d heat it up with fire inside until it was red hot. Then, a parent who wanted to win the favor of Molech would “dedicate” their child by placing it onto those red-hot hands. The priests of Molech would beat loudly on a drum to muffle the cries of the suffering infant. Gruesome stuff, isn’t it?
I think you can see why the true God declared this form of pagan worship to be especially abhorrent to Him. So in Leviticus 18 and 20 the Lord specifically forbids the people of Israel to engage in this detestable practice. He knew that the Israelites would learn of this ritual and God didn’t want them to give it a try. Unfortunately, that’s precisely what happened. We don’t know to what extent it was done among the average people, but we do know that King Ahaz did it and was condemned for it. The crazy thing is that people like Ahaz thought they could combine their Jewish worship practices of the true God with this horrendous act of child sacrifice. But God was not pleased. It was totally incompatible with the worship of the Lord of Life.
By contrast, compare that to the story of Abraham and his son Isaac. As you may recall, God had promised to make Abraham into a great nation and his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. In His wisdom, God waited until Abraham and his wife Sarah were old to give them the child He had promised. But one day, when Isaac was an older teenager, God gave Abraham a command to test this father’s faith. The Lord told him to take his son to Mount Moriah and dedicate, that is sacrifice, him there as a burnt offering. Wait. What!?!? I thought that the true God viewed child sacrifice as detestable. Why would He now command Abraham to do the very thing He deplored?!? Well, as we dig into the text we'll find the answer.
We don’t know if the worship of Molech was popular yet in the land of Canaan when Abraham settled there. But it appears that the whole idea of human sacrifice was known and practiced by the inhabitants of the land. And therein lies the beginning of our answer. God had called Abraham to be different and separate from all these people. If you peruse the Old Testament, you’ll find that God often commanded His people to worship Him in ways that made them stand out. Some aspects were similar to their neighbors', like having a temple and priests. However, in key areas God directed Israel to worship Him in unique ways that not only pleased and honored Him but also foreshadowed the Lord’s great plan of salvation. So yes, God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac in order to teach a crucial lesson.
Abraham was to totally dedicate his son to the Lord, even to the point of death. It was a test of faith, which he passed. Thankfully, just as he was about to kill his son, God stopped him. And so what was the lesson? First, even though the people around Abraham might do all kinds of odd worship practices including the sacrifice of their children, the true God wanted His people to be different. As a people, they were to totally dedicate their whole lives to Him spiritually. Their sinful, human will was to be sacrificed and die. They were to be totally devoted to the Lord and His will for them. And the Lord’s will was for them to live and worship Him with an absolute trust and undivided devotion. Their children were to be dedicated to God, not by sacrificing them, but rather by teaching them to love and trust in Him.
Second, and more important, God was showing them that sacrificing the lives of their children was not necessary to please Him. Rather, God had a plan where He would sacrifice His own Son, Jesus Christ, in our place to redeem and save us. Jesus came into our world and was totally dedicated to His Father in heaven. Not only did He submit His Father’s will, but He also dedicated His life by being sacrificed on the cross. He did it because nothing we could offer would pay the price for our sins and please God, not even the sacrifice of our beloved children. Because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, we are free of that burden. Now, we can dedicate the lives of our children to Him, knowing the Lord has life and salvation planned for both them and us.
Aren’t you glad that horrendous child-sacrifice is no longer practiced? Well, don’t be so sure about that. True, to the best of my knowledge, people today aren’t dedicating their children by making them into burnt offerings. However, it is happening spiritually. True, we dedicate our children to the Lord in Baptism. But then, like King Ahaz, we turn around and offer them up to other gods. How so? Well, Luther rightly said that anything that we place our total trust in has become a false god to us. What kind of “gods” do we offer up our children to? I remember talking to a parent of small children once who told me how they wanted to make sure their kids were involved in every fun and healthy activity possible. Sports, dance class, gymnastics, cub scouts, girl scouts, 4H, and the list went on and on. “Oh, and Pastor, surely you understand then why my child won’t be in worship and Sunday School sometimes, right?” Quite frankly, no, I didn’t!
How is that any different from the dual worship of Molech and the true God? It’s not and it’s just as detestable to the Lord. That list I just mentioned could be extended to all of us since we too are the “children” of God. What are you dedicating yourself and your children to? Or perhaps a simpler way to ask that is: What is it that draws you away from worshiping the true God and being fed spiritually and from studying His Word in Bible Class? Our adult list may be slightly different than the things our kids end up being dedicated to, but the result is still the same. Whatever it is, you are making that into your own private Molech. You are sacrificing to a false god what rightfully ought to be totally dedicated to the one, true God.
Like we saw with Abraham, what the Lord really wants is the total dedication of our lives to Him. As St. Paul says, we are to be living sacrifices. And God wants our children to be totally dedicated to Him too. Not in the form of a burnt sacrifice. Rather, the Lord wants those children to be totally dedicated to Him spiritually every day of their lives. He wants us to bring our children and grandchildren here to His temple where they too can learn of the amazing sacrifice of God’s only Son. It is our sacred duty to teach them about God’s grace that they received in their Baptism. We are to teach them how to repent of our sins and turn to God for His forgiveness through Christ. We are to teach them to look forward to the blessings of Holy Communion. Those little ones need to be exposed to this grace of God, not on a part time basis or whenever it conveniently fits into our schedule, but regularly and consistently here in God’s house. As a Church that is to be our concern for all the children we know and have contact with. I can assure you that Isaac knew without a doubt that his father loved him. And he witnessed his Dad’s total dedication to God in a very dramatic way. He also knew how he himself had been totally dedicated in body and soul to the Lord. May all of our beloved children witness in us that same dedication of living service to our Lord. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!