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First things first

Matthew 6: 28 – 34

Rev. Peter R Green, Sunday morning, 11 Sep, 2005

Kevin and Robin, you are here to do the best you can for your children — especially Mitchell — on this day. And I know that that is how most of us here feel. We want to do what is right.

The big question is, “How do we do what is right?” It’s a question we all ask in one form or another and at different stages of our lives.

One area where we ask that question is in our dealings with our children.

Parents often ask it in the form of, “Should I get my baby done?” Even parents with no faith of their own sometimes feel a need of some kind of welcoming ceremony for their babies.

Kevin and Robin, you know that we Baptists don't baptise babies. We are on one side of that debate, together with the Nazarenes and the Pentecostalists and a growing number of others. The Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians and Unitings and most of the more traditional groups do baptise babies. We Baptists believe it is right to baptise people old enough to be able to declare their own faith.

I believe the church exists to transform the world and bring people to personal faith through preaching the word of God.

I was friendly with a Catholic priest who had studied in Rome.

Rome shocked him, because it was so Catholic.

It was a bit like the Jew who was caught in a Bogside alley by some IRA toughs.

“Are you Catholic or Protestant?” the gang leader demanded.

“Neither,” said the Jew. “I’m a Jew.”

“You’ll not be getting away with it that easy,” said the gang leader. “Are you a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew?”

Even the Jews are Catholic in Rome.

He said, “The priests in Rome don‘t understand life in Australia. Here, it’s a mission field. Half the families that come to me to get their baby baptised don’t understand what being a Christian is about. It’s not right to baptise a child who will perhaps never have a chance to understand the gospel.”

That is the kind of outlook that we Baptists have taken one step further. The world where everyone lived their entire life in the one village and went to the same school and church is gone. Once, baptising a baby just marked another addition to the life of the village. Things are different now.

However, the New Testament doesn’t contain a lot about what to do with children. It is more focused on adult life in a hostile world.

Jesus talked about encouraging children to come to himself, and he said that we should have a childlike trust if we wanted to enter the Kingdom of heaven.

He used the relationship between a child and its father to teach what God is like as our heavenly father.

Paul said that having one believing parent is enough to make a child ready for faith in Christ.

He also wrote about how children should submit to their parents, but parents should not exasperate their children. And he briefly mentioned a pastor’s relationship with his children.

But in general, we have to build an approach to children from first principles, something that suits the world we live in and the missionary nature of the Christian Church these days.

And this passage is a good starting place:

Seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Our first goal must be to seek the Kingdom and the righteousness of God.

It applies to families and to individuals. It applies to all aspects of our lives. Jesus talks about food, clothing, and money. He says, “Get your focus in the right place! Seek the Kingdom first — and God’s kind of righteousness — and God will look after all the rest.”

Kevin and Robin, how was it when Mitchell was first born? Chris and I thought about our children, and wondered what kind of life they might lead. I thought that Luke might become a Town Planner like me, or an Engineer or an Architect. I imagined Joshua as being a little more adventurous, but probably doing something similar. And so it went on.

Luke is a musician and Joshua is a Computer network engineer... you never can tell.

But those things are not all that important. The first and foremost thing is God’s Kingdom and his righteousness.

It’s the same in every area of life. What career should you follow? Seek first the Kingdom, and that will fall into place. What should you do about marriage and family? Seek first the Kingdom, and leave the details to God. He knows what he is doing.

But it’s Mitchell’s day, and it’s Robin and Kevin’s day, so we need to keep the focus on the right spot, and let the Word of God burn its way into their souls.

I want to think very briefly about three aspects of seeking first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness.

I want to think about seeking first God’s Kingdom and righteousness for Mitchell. Then I want us to think about seeking first God’s Kingdom and righteousness for Mitchell’s environment. Finally, I want us to think about seeking first God’s Kingdom and righteousness for Mitchell’s future.

FOR MITCHELL

I think that every parent has high hopes for his or her child. With the first one, you probably want to map out every day of the next thirty years; but that’s just enthusiasm, isn’t it? By the time you have a couple of children, you are more relaxed, and you are enjoying it more, and so are the children.

But we have other hopes for our children. We want them to grow to be responsible adults. We want them to have worthwhile jobs. We want them to contribute to society, to be good people, to choose moral rather than immoral pursuits.

I don’t suppose that too many people want their child to grow up to be bankrobbers who turn to drugs, and live their final days in the back alleys of the city. You want a brain surgeon or a bus driver, or a bank teller or a barrister — and we haven’t even started on the accountants or the chiropractors. You want your child to have a good marriage and to raise some grandchildren for you to have fun with.

And, as Christian parents, you want Mitchell to grow up knowing the gospel, with every possibility of coming to Christian faith.

I’m going to affirm that goal. It is a Christian goal, and it is a worthy one.

We need to prioritise the Kingdom of God for our children. They need to hear the gospel, they need to think about their world and how the good news of Jesus relates to it, they need to be taught to think about how justice and doing things rightly and being merciful all blend together and create the conditions of God’s Kingdom on earth.

That is really what it is about. Those are the principles Mitchell needs. If he gets those right, he will be able to organise the rest of his life, because the key things will be in place.

You can’t make Mitchell’s decisions for him. But if you look at history, you will see that, when parents have had that kind of view of their role, even when their children never came to a personal faith, they became people who set out to make the world better and to contribute something valuable to their society.

I encourage you, Robin and Kevin, to seek first God’s Kingdom and righteousness for Mitchell.

FOR MITCHELL’S ENVIRONMENT

I think the hardest thing for you to do, though, is to seek first God’s Kingdom and righteousness for Mitchell’s environment.

It is hard, because it begins with you. Your family is his primary environment until he is around seven.

The Jesuits have a saying, “give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man.”

God has given you Mitchell in those crucial first years, and the family he grows up in will be the critical factor in the decisions he makes.

Here’s some bad news, Robin. Research shows that a believing mother is the biggest factor in whether the children become believers. The second biggest factor is a believing father backing up the believing mother, so there is no let out for you, Kevin!

That means that what Robin does in her everyday life with the children will be critical to how the children turn out; and how you support her, Kevin, will determine to a large extent whether she can keep that environment going.

A few of us went to Elmer and Neci's place a while ago. I asked Neci if she needed any help, because she was running up and down the kitchen, and everyone else had scattered, except that Elmer was barbecuing meat outside.

Neci said, “You can talk to me,” So I did.

I enjoyed that. It brought back good memories for me, of talking in the kitchen to my mother, and talking in the kitchen to the mother of one of my friends from school. Both of them taught me a lot about my faith through talking about their own faith.

Is your kitchen a factory for efficient food production, or a holy place for mission?

I wish someone had explained that to Chris and me when we first started going out.

Many women who see the kitchen as a factory have husbands who see their wives as factory labourers. Maybe I did that too much.

One thing I will emphasise is that the wrong idea is to try to get someone else to create a Kingdom–focused environment for Mitchell. Too many Christian parents think that Christian schools and Christian clubs are a subsitute for a Christian home and a loving church family as an extension of that home.

Teenaged kids often need to go outside the family environment. Our daughter, Naomi, used to talk to Joan Oates for hours, getting an outside perspective on things in her life.

That’s where the church becomes a valuable extension to the family as a place for seeking to put the Kingdom and righteousness of God first. Create a Kingdom environment for Mitchell.

FOR MITCHELL’S FUTURE

Finally, seek a kingdom future for Mitchell.

Karen Armstrong is a nun who left her order and has become a leading expert on the sociology of religion.

We have been hearing a lot about the impact of fundamentalist thinking on our world, especially as George W Bush counts himself as a fundamentalist Christian.

Karen Armstrong compares and contrasts two movements from the beginning of the 20th Century — fundamentalism, and the slightly earlier Pentecostal revivals, especially at Azusa Street in Chicago.

She points out that fundamentalism was, and still is, backward looking. It wants to return to an imagined golden age when everyone was a fundamentalist, and life had few pressures.

But she says that the Azusa Street revival was essentially future–oriented. It said, “When we put the principles of the New Testament into practice, we begin to experience right now what the future in God’s Kingdom will be like.” And they brought all races and nations together in harmony, and everyone celebrated their unity in Christ together. It was a joyful party in God’s presence that lasted for years.

So many people seem to feel, “The world is bad today; it will be worse tomorrow, we need to draw back to the safe past.” But that’s not the bold faith and the certain hope of the Bible.

A Kingdom perspective looks forward with hope. It faces difficulties with confidence, because Jesus will triumph. It faces persecution and rejection with a laugh, because Jesus endured the cross and rose victorious.

Kevin and Robin, seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness for Mitchell’s future.

CHARGE TO THE PARENTS

Kevin and Robin, as experienced parents you know what a wonderful gift and awesome responsibility you have received. You know the joys and sorrows. You know how you need all the support you can get. Your family and friends, this church — we are here to support you. Don’t neglect our offer!

You know your need to raise him “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” You can’t be responsible for the decisions he makes, but you can do all that is in your power to encourage him to decide to trust Christ and to live in obedience to him.

I will now charge you, as you shall answer before God, do you, Robin and Kevin, give thanks to God for his gift to you of Mitchell? Do you acknowledge God’s prior ownership,by creation and redemption, of your son?

We do.

Do you promise, God helping you, to care for him, protect him, and raise him to know and live the gospel of Jesus and develop to responsible adulthood?

We do

Lord God, heavenly Father, strengthen and keep Robin and Kevin to fulfil these vows; bless them in their family life and their relationship with Mitchell; through Jesus our Lord, AMEN

CHARGE TO CONGREGATION

Do you, this congregation, promise, the Lord helping you, to support, to encourage, to pray and to teach so that Robin, Kevin, their families, and their friends may together work to bring about the blessing and strengthening of baby Mitchell so that his life may be a source of blessing for many?

We do

Lord from whom every family on earth receives its name, strengthen these people to do your will. Through Jesus we pray, AMEN

CLOSING PRAYERS (Holding Mitchell):

Lord God, the heavenly Father of us all, we now pray your blessing on Mitchell. Teach him to know and trust in your grace through Jesus our Lord. Lead him in paths of righteousness and deliver him from evil. Use him in your holy purposes and show him your unending mercy. Through Christ our Lord we pray, AMEN

(For the whole congregation)

Our King and Saviour, watch over these people and care for them; keep them close to yourself, and reveal your salvation to them. AMEN.

BENEDICTION

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you

and give you peace. AMEN

© Peter R. Green 2005. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. Portions also copyright The Bible, NIV (Zondervan Ltd.)