• Brief opening thought: God has always been the giver of gifts to his people, and he does not change in this (Jas 1:17). So though there is a popular notion that he became truly good and generous only in the New Testament era, his motive has always been love, the outcome always grace. I was struck by this reading in (of all places) Leviticus this morning. He rescues his servants from bondage (25:55), walks beside his people in order to bless them (26:3-13), disciplines them when they wander or betray him (26:14-39), yet will never utterly destroy them (26:44-45). These are all “New Testament” messages… they’re just in the Old Testament.
• Main topic: I want to encourage you to be mindful of how you and your family are affecting others around you during worship. Worship is the last of places we would want to stand on our rights; it is the best of places to consider reverence for God and the needs of others to concentrate. Let me set this in a larger context, then come back to it.
• In Scripture, the movement from falsehood to truth, darkness to light, and unbelief to belief, is always the movement from pride to humility. This is the unbroken pattern in Scripture. So in the Leviticus text just mentioned (26:41), but also in classics like 2 Chron 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face….” In the NT one of my favorite examples is in Luke’s Nativity narrative, where Zechariah challenges the angel and is rendered dumb, while Mary submits to the angel and is blessed. But, of course, the entire story of the Incarnation, Cross and Resurrection is the story of the triumph of humility over pride (Php 2:1-15).
• Because of original sin, all human beings are born in varying degrees of stubborn willfulness. In little kids you see it in insistence on their own way, but it’s just pride. Some kids are incredibly strong and defiant, others less so, but the rule is unbroken. The Irwin kids covered the spectrum (as far as three kids can do so), but a base-level pride was there in all of them (and sadly, in their parents). The challenge of parenting is to discipline and destroy their pride while strengthening and encouraging their spirits, with the effect that you free their god-given gifts and character from bondage to self-service and self-glorification (which would eventually become their own private hell).
• Simply put, you want a child to obey you because such children are learning to make their own wills subservient to yours, and you are, for about 18 years, God’s proxy. I always thought my mission as a dad was to raise kids who could themselves, in some difficult hour, say to God: “nevertheless, not my will but thy will be done.” Kids who can be guided by your words alone are kids who will be guided by the will of God and the words of God eventually. This is a simple way of describing keeping the Covenant, generation to generation, and why God commands children to honor their parents.
• We’ve chosen to keep whole families together in worship because there is no other biblical model. But it’s inevitably messy. Babies can’t respond to your words and some older kids simply can’t hold still. As parents, you pay most of the price for this in terms of walking them out in the narthex or going to the cry room. But by doing these things you are modeling servanthood and humility to your kids, placing the needs of others before your own.
• Finally, the same is also true for those of us without kids or whose kids are grown or gone: we mustn’t stand on our rights. Keeping families together in worship means more commotion. Please be patient while mom bundles her things together to get the baby to the cry room. Better yet, come alongside that mom and help her. If you know the family, offer to take a turn in the narthex so mom and dad can worship.This what it means to be the family of God, serving each other, helping each other, loving each other.