Being Holy, Responsible Children and Siblings, part I

Hebrews 12:4-17
English Standard Version (ESV)
4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.


Why do Baptists have and practice parent–child dedications? Have you ever asked yourself that? Is it just because we feel left out, everyone has something with a baby except us. We don’t want to baptize our babies, like most other denominations, so we’ll have a dedication instead. Hopefully, we have more reason than this. You see Roman Catholics believe infant baptism is necessary for salvation of the child; Anglicans and Episcopalians largely agree, believing infant baptism is the beginning of the lifelong process of salvation. Methodists believe that God’s prevenient grace is bestowed upon the child, the kind of grace that will eventually help them believe the Gospel. Presbyterians have this ceremony with their children because they believe that the event marks the child for salvation; claims the child for Christ and the covenant community. Baptists? We don’t believe any of that. We don’t believe that this ceremony which we practices has anything to do with the salvation of the child. It is completely unrelated. So why, then do we have a ceremony at all?

The reason we have parent–child dedications is not for the child himself, this covenanting ceremony is actually for the rest of us. You see the Scriptures present us with this ideal of the family where the parents are responsible for bringing the child up in the faith. However, when we look at the New Testament church, the church in the early centuries, even when we look at Jewish communities in the Old Testament, what we see is that while the parents are held responsible for the child, it is the believing community around them which is responsible for helping those parents. Perhaps, you’ve never thought of this before but God holds every individual in this church responsible as well for bringing the children of this church up in the faith. We aren’t just watching parents dedicate their child, but we are participating with them and committing ourselves to this sacred work.

The nature of this event has got me thinking recently, and what I'd like to do over the next few blogs is take up this question of participating and committing to one another in the local church for each other's mutual growth. You see I would argue the low-view we have of parent-child dedications is simply symptomatic of how we think about our responsibilities and obligations to one another overall. Before I dig in, then, ask yourself what kind of responsibilities do I have to my brothers and sisters in the church?