The Danger of Good Intentions - Series: Children in the Church #1

With this post, we are starting a series reflecting on the topic of children in the church. There are many common assumptions about children that are not grounded in Scripture and stem more from cultural trends and influences. And this is rather important. The late Pastor Voddie Baucham used to speak about the story of Uzzah and the Ark of the Covenant (as found in 2 Samuel 6:1–7 and 1 Chronicles 13:9–12) to remind us of the importance of faithfulness over creativity or good intentions.

In that account, as they are transporting the Ark of the Covenant, Uzzah touches the ark with his hands in an attempt to prevent it from falling, (maybe) acting out of a “sincere” desire to protect something holy—but doing so in a way that God had not commanded. This action resulted in him being struck dead by God. The underlying message for us is the danger of seeking to accomplish spiritual tasks using methods that fall outside God’s prescribed patterns.

So, when the church attempts to be innovative or to reach the culture by implementing strategies not found in Scripture—such as age-segregated ministries—it may be doing something inherently dangerous against the command of God. If you think about Uzzah’s account, from a worldly perspective, his reaction seems reasonable and even acceptable, and we could argue that he was being zealous for the things of God. And when you reason from this perspective, God can seem unreasonable, harsh, legalistic, and unconcerned with people’s hearts in the situation.

But this story teaches us otherwise. God cares deeply about obedience—more than good intentions. And the reason for that is that even our “good intentions” are tainted by the sinful assumptions and hidden motives of our hearts. God, who was the giver of the Ark, prescribed how it should be transported and handled. Maybe Uzzah assumed his hands were cleaner than the ground. Maybe he assumed that going against God’s prescribed means in that specific moment was acceptable. Maybe he was simply impulsive. The Lord saw it as irreverence, burned in anger, and struck him down.

Now, some might argue that things have changed in the New Testament with the coming of Jesus. And it is true—many things have changed. But God’s zeal for His commandments, for His name and glory, and for His holy things has not changed. The New Testament repeatedly shows how zealous God is for His church. There is nothing of greater worth in all existence than the church. Sometimes we think of worth as something we inherently possess, but it is better understood as something assigned. An object is worth a certain amount because we—as a society—assign value to it. The church is of infinite worth, not because we are perfect or good, but because God has assigned infinite worth to us. He has bought the church with His precious blood; nothing in creation can hold greater value than that. And that explains why He is so zealous for it. The church is more holy, more precious, and more important than the Ark of the Covenant. Will we dare to touch it with irreverent hands?

So, as we begin this series on children, we need to approach it with the seriousness it deserves. Many Christians, and even pastors, treat this as a casual, secondary, or tertiary issue. But when we talk about children, we are not talking about simple elements that make up the church environment. We are talking about image bearers. We are talking about little image bearers who, by God’s providence, have been placed in our covenant communities—families and churches. And not only image bearers, but quite possibly elect children of God for whom Christ has died on the cross. God cares deeply about our children. Jesus cares deeply about our children. And we should care deeply about them as well.

Our society, addicted to comfort, has increasingly grown weary of children, whose behaviour is often naturally (or sometimes due to poor parenting) inconvenient and disruptive. So we need to be very careful not to blaspheme, reject, or treat casually what is holy—even if, in our minds (like in Uzzah’s), there seem to be good reasons to do so. And we cannot fall into the temptation of using innovative, human-centred methods to accomplish spiritual tasks like training up children in the way they should go, so that they will not depart from it when they are older.

In the next posts, we will begin addressing more specific issues, starting with God’s call for His whole people to gather, which includes children. But for now, it is enough to reflect on these things and allow our hearts to be filled with zeal, reverence, and awe as we approach this subject. May God help us and give us the right posture of heart in this conversation.

Nino Marques