Teaching your children to read the Bible is one great way to help them to develop a personal relationship with Christ. A faith that lasts, however, needs to be lived out and applied by attending church regularly. Christ does not call sinners into a secret and private relationship with him; he calls them into his church. Paul compares the church to a building that God is assembling, with “Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:20-21). This temple created by God is invisible. All those with true saving faith in Christ are part of it. Just taking your kids to church doesn’t save them, but it does allow them to be a part of the visible church. As part of the visible church, your kids will experience God’s ordinary means of grace. Though God can work in our hearts and lives in a myriad of ways, the Bible teaches that there are some regular ways that God calls sinners to repentance and sanctifies saints: the word preached and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
We have seen already that God’s Word is powerful. The Spirit of God works through the Word of God when people read it, but especially when it is preached. This is seen through many examples in the pages of Scripture (Nehemiah 8:8-9; Acts 2:14-47, 20:32). God chose to use the preaching of the gospel as the way he redeems sinners (Romans 10:14-17). Consider what Paul says: “it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:21-24). If you want your kids to have a faith that lasts, you need to bring them to hear the gospel preached and pray that the Spirit gives them ears to hear and a heart that responds in repentance and faith.
The Bible also establishes Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as ordinary means of grace. The church does these two things first and foremost because Jesus said to (Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 10:23-26). Jesus gave the church these sacraments as ways that the gospel message could be preached to our senses. When accompanied by God’s Word, Baptism teaches us that if we have faith in Christ, our sins are atoned for and we are cleansed of our guilt. In fact, Paul says we are baptized into Jesus’ death. When the water washes over a sinner, it is a sign of the spiritual reality that they are buried with Christ. (Romans 6:3) As the sinner comes out of the water, it is a sign of spiritual cleansing, but even more than that, a sign of spiritual resurrection (Romans 6:4)!
When Christian parents baptize their child, it doesn’t automatically save or magically transfer faith; however, it does make that child a part of the visible covenant community of the church. As part of that community, we can trust and pray that God will work in their hearts to bring them to faith. In a similar way the Lord’s Supper is a sign of spiritual realities. The bread is a sign of Christ’s body, broken for us. The wine is a sign of Christ’s blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins. When you take communion, explain this to your kids. When they profess faith, talk with your pastor and elders to decide if they should take communion with you.
