7-12-09 The Coin

Some of us work very hard to make lots of money or to climb the corporate ladder, or to fill our homes with lots and lots of things – big boy toys, closets full of cloths, all those things, but when you get to my age – the age when many begin to experience mid life crisis – you realize that the American Dream is really a nightmare, because if you are lucky enough or unlucky enough to actually achieve the American Dream, you realize that it’s empty.  It doesn’t bring lasting fulfillment. It doesn’t bring lasting joy. It doesn’t bring lasting peace in our souls. At the end of the day, you still don’t have contentment. It’s not strong enough or good enough to fill the void inside of us.

 

But when we enter God’s mission and God’s vision we find purpose and identity and a unprecedented peace and joy and love that fill us up.

 

The commitment is great. The cause is greater. The blessing is the greatest.

Our baptism service is next week. This is not about numbers. This is not about ceremony, but about commitment to the cause of God and his kingdom – the cause of bringing heaven to earth – the cause of fighting against evil and fighting for good.

 

Next week we are having our baptism celebration at Gravel Lake. Baptism is a wonderful time where new people commit to journeying with God – seeking to love him with all that they are and seeking to love their neighbor as much as themselves, and joining God in the fight of bringing more of heaven to earth. It’s a whale of an adventure! I hope you’ll join us!

 

Now, maybe you’ve heard some of the junk and the fights that have often surrounded baptism, and specifically, infant baptism and child dedication. Are infants supposed to be dedicated or baptized, that’s the question? Are adults supposed to go through confirmation or baptism? Wars have been fought over these issues. Churches have split over these issues. Denominations battle back and forth over these issues. The sides seem to be drawn.

 

Now, you may wonder why anyone would ever fight over an issue like this. But if you’ve ever coached or been an umpire or a referee for a children’s sporting event, then you know how parents can be when it comes to little Jeffy, little Janey, right? The parents will fight you if they think you’re wrong in how you play Jeffy or Janey. They will get right in your face. They will call you names if, if the believe you have somehow wronged their child.

 

So it is with baptism and dedication. These are spiritual things, mysterious things, eternal things. These are things that some believe are the difference between heaven and hell. If you’re right and I’m wrong on this issue, then are my kid’s going to be all right? Darn right, I’m going to fight over that one, because there’s a lot riding on that decision.

 

The issue of baptizing a child or dedicating a child seems to be a black or white issue. Which side are you on? Who’s right and who’s wrong? Both seem to have biblical text that support their views, but neither view is crisply laid out in the Bible. Things are a bit vague. So, my question is, “Is the issue worth fighting over?”  And maybe the greater question is “Where shall we stand as a new church – one side or the other?”

 

Is there a way that seems right to you? If there is, then my question to you is, where did you get that view? Have you studied the issue? Have you read books from opposing views? If you were baptized or dedicated as an infant, that’s of course the correct view, right? If your particular church or denomination subscribed to infant baptism or infant dedication while you were growing up, then you are most likely to subscribe to that view.

 

Now for me, I went to a Christian Reformed Church while I was growing up, and then went to a Reformed church when I left home, and continued to attend a Reformed church until I came here. I baptized my children, while I was at that church and it felt good and seemed good. I have no regrets. I went to a Reformed seminary – and each of these subscribed to the view of infant baptism. All children were baptized. Our children were baptized.

 

My seminary taught that a child is to be baptized when they are infants as a way of acknowledging that God loves every child, and that God died for every child, and that God provides grace for every child. Every human being is born into those things. In infant baptism, the parents are acknowledging God’s goodness, and his grace, and his love, and they want to do everything in their power to see their child brought up in such a way that they receive all the goodness that God has to offer.

 

This view may sound familiar because this is the view that I taught last year just before our baptism service, and of course it is the right view. Everyone should subscribe to this view.

 

(Drama in the middle of the message) Andy – Adam, I thought we talked about this! You weren’t going to say that. I can’t believe you.  I grew up in a church where the parents dedicated their children to God, and adults were the only ones being baptized. They would never think about baptizing a child. After all, a child can’t make any decisions. A child or an infant doesn’t have any faith. They don’t know what’s going on when you sprinkle water on them. If anything, they don’t like it. They cry and complain when they get wet. Children are against this whole baptism thing, and should be seen by all of your people that young children should not be baptized.

 

Todd jumps up and says, “you’re crazy, Andy. I’m with Adam”

 

Calvin jumps up and says, “I’m with Andy, you guys are misinterpreting scripture!”

 

Jon jumps up and says, “Adam’s the pastor! God speaks to him, so he can’t be wrong!”

 

Then the whole leadership team jumps up and quickly chooses sides, the whole time arguing with the others on the opposing side in loud condescending voices.

 

(End of Drama)

 

Just before our baptism gathering last year, as leaders we came to realize that we had differences among us about baptism. We had grown up in different traditions, and of course we each always thought our tradition as being right.

 

This created a problem, or, if you will, an opportunity.

 

You should be very proud of the leaders that lead this church, because they are not ever so stuck on their own view that they won’t try and understand someone else’s view. That’s what we’ve done over the past year. We’ve helped each other to see the other side of the coin. I’ve tried to get in Andy and Calvin’s shoes and they’ve tried to get in mine.

 

We took both of our traditions, infant baptism and infant dedication, and dumped them out on the table and I began to pray that God would change them – no, no, no! Ah, so we began to pray for God to help us sort through what he intended for us to do with our children and what we should do when we commit ourselves to him in faith. Your will be done, God, not ours? Your kingdom come, Father, not mine.

 

After much discussion we began to ask the question, not what tradition or ceremony is right, but rather, God, what is your heart in this matter.

 

As we met together and prayed, we asked God for his wisdom and his discernment in this matter of our children, and what happened is really quite amazing. God showed up and revealed something wonderful to us and it’s that which I want to share with you right now.

 

It’s all about a coin really. Call it in the air. Heads!

 

Heads – infant baptism if you will.

 

People who subscribe to this view, see God as the primary focus. The primary focus is not on the infant or the parents, but on the love of God and the love of Jesus and his sacrifice, which was for every human being. Their focus is on what God has done, is doing, and will do in the future.

 

In infant baptism the primary focus is on what God is doing; the secondary focus is on the love of the parents for their child, and the parent’s desire for their child to grow up in God’s love, and their desire for their child to follow God in love all the days of their life.

 

Heads – infant baptism; that’s one side of the coin, but then there’s another side of the coin.

 

Tales – infant dedication.

 

In infant dedication, the primary focus is on what the parents are doing. In infant dedication, the parents are dedicating their child to God. The focus is on their commitment and their love for their child and their desire for their child to come into a loving relationship with God and be blessed by him, as they themselves have been blessed.

 

The secondary focus is on what God is doing. They do this because they know that God has already made his commitment. God love and commitment to each human being is a constant. Therefore, in this view, the parents are the primary focus and God is the secondary focus. That’s tales.

 

So you see, both views are looking at different sides of the same coin. They look very different – heads on one side, tales on the other. When each side describes their side it sounds very different, and it is different, but only because their focus is different.

 

Here’s the thing that sealed the deal for me. When things like this issue get fuzzy and a bit confusing for me, I ask clarifying questions.

 

Is God interested in whether we use water or not? Is God interested in whether we use the words dedicate or baptized when we bring our children before him? Does he? What is God interested in?

 

The greatest commandments, Jesus said, is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor, those around you, as much as you love yourself. The primary thing that God is looking at is your heart. What’s going on in your heart? What is your intent in baptizing or dedicating a child? Is this about bringing your child before God in love or is this some tradition, or about water, or some magic words that we use?

 

For this reason, we have decided that we will either dedicate or baptize our children. We don’t believe the issue is worth fighting over. We fight for love, not over which tradition we will embrace. We fight against evil, not against each other. Both views are right, their focus is just different.

 

Because of this, we’d like to start a new tradition for our children here at New Community. We would like to dedicate our children with water. By doing this, we’d be taking a powerful piece from each side of the coin. We would like to sprinkle water on the child as the symbol of God’s love and grace that is always present – heads. In dedicating our children with water, it is our hope that our children will someday receive the love and forgiveness of sins when they come of age. It is our hope that the water that we use would be a sign of things to come, when they chose to be submerged in the cleansing waters of God’s forgiveness and love.

 

We use the words dedicate, as a way of understanding our commitment as parents to raise the child in a manner that honors God – to teach our children about God and his love and his commands that give life – Tales. Dedicate means that we offer our child in love to a God that already loves them more than we could ever imagine.

 

As we dedicate our children with water, it as if the water of our own baptism is dripping off of us onto our children, and the love of God that is inside of us is welling up inside and overflowing into the lives of our children.

 

So you see, there are two sides to every coin. In this great, and sometimes sad debate, there are also two sides to the coin. The first side is about God and his love and grace that is always present. The other side is of the coin is about our commitment to God as parents and our willingness to do everything in our power to raise our children in God’s love and grace.

 

We’re not willing to fight over which side is right or which side is wrong, because in fact both sides are right. We will begin our own tradition of dedicating with water, but if someone wants to baptize a child with water, or dedicate a child without water, it’s ok. In fact, it’s good! We’re not interested so much in what words that we say or what symbol we use or don’t use, but rather, what’s in the hearts of those that are taking the vows.

 

Ok? Are we clear?

 

So here’s the question. Do you have a child that hasn’t been dedicated or baptized? We invite you to consider baptizing or dedicating them next week. If you have questions, or would like have a child dedicated or baptized next week, please feel free to talk to me or any one of the management community after worship, or you can call the church office this week.

 

 

 

 

 

Life link

 

1. With the exceptions of getting married, having kids, and following Christ, what’s the most important decision you’ve made in your life? Why was this so important?

 

1. In a nutshell, what was Sunday’s message about? Was there anything that struck you, challenged you, caused you to question your previous belief, or that you flat out just disagreed with?

 

1. Why do people fight about who’s right in the baptism/dedication debate? Is the topic worth fighting over? Why or why not?

 

1. Which view, infant baptism or dedication, have you previously subscribed to? Did the message challenge you to see the other side of the coin?

 

1. Is infant baptism/dedication a salvation issue? In other words, if a child is not baptized or dedicated, does that mean that they cannot go to heaven? (note: thief on the cross)

 

1. Do you believe that New Community is making a mistake in allowing and blessing both child baptism and child dedication? Why or why not?

 

1. Do you have young children that have not been baptized or dedicated? If so, did the message challenge you to commit them to God?

 

Preparing for Baptism Sunday

 

1. If you are the parent of a youth, and they are old enough to make an informed decision about baptism, have you talked with them to see if they are ready to make a commitment to join God and his mission?