The Madison Courier ran an article this past week about a man who allegedly used his own two-year old son as a human shield while being arrested by U.S. Service Park Rangers. According the story, the man resisted arrest by the rangers who finally drew their guns and ordered everyone to the ground. At that point rather than surrendering, the man picked up his two-year old, obviously daring the ranger to shoot him through the child.
The family of the man disputes the story and he will have his day in court. For his sake I hope it’s not true. However, this story does serve as a contrast for everything the Bible calls a father to be. The Christian father is to be a man who lays down his life for his wife and for his children. Indeed searching for men who live out the vision of Christian fatherhood today is something akin to searching for Bigfoot. You might see a glimpse of one every now and then, but it all happened so fast you just can’t be sure.
I hope we would all react with scorn for a man who would use a child as a human shield. Yet, many men sacrifice children everyday on the altar of their own desires. Rampant child abuse is evidence of men who live for their own selfish desires. Rather than protecting children they are the greatest threats to them. The picture of manhood and fatherhood in our culture is a depraved one, but the biblical picture is a much needed and pleasant alternative.
Fatherhood is one of the highest callings God has given. Fathers have been entrusted with the protection both women and children. This is no easy task but few things worth doing are. Just as Jesus Christ laid down his life on the cross for the good of sinners, so fathers are to lay down their lives for the good of children.
This morning, God’s word reminds us of one important doctrinal truth about God and three important practical truths for every father. Read with me Ephesians 6.1-4
Fathers should be honored because God is a Father.
The heart of this section is the 5th commandment ‘Honor your father and mother’. Paul’s New Testament instructions on the family are built squarely on the Old Testament law of God. Little children in ancient Israel were taught to honor father and mother because the Almighty God commanded it. Little children in modern Baptist churches should be taught the same.
It is good and right that we honor our fathers and mothers. God has given us our parents as gifts. Though very often in our fallen world, parents abuse their position by abusing their children, yet the authority of parents is good and worthy of honor. It is important to teach your children to honor you as their God given authority. Keeping the 5th commandment paves the way to honoring and obeying God who is the ultimate authority for each of us.
Father’s Day is an important day as well for being reminded of the fatherhood of God. God Himself is a father. God created every human being, so every person is responsible to him, but the fatherhood of God extends particularly to those who believe in Jesus. John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Our world tells us that we are all God’s children, but the Bible says something different.
The Bible teaches that those who turn from sin and believe in Jesus Christ alone are adopted into the family of God. Those who reject Jesus Christ as the only Way, do not belong to God, but are under His wrath. Believers alone can rejoice today in the great truth of being adopted into the family of God. If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you should not think of God as your father, but you should repent of sin and believe so that He will be your Father.
Today, as you honor your earthly fathers remember that whatever goodness you see in them is only a glimpse of the glory of our true Father God. The doctrinal truth, God is father, now the practical.
Fathers must provoke love not anger.
One of the great scourges in each of our souls is the sin of anger. Anger has been lurking in every human heart from the moment of the Fall. It was anger that precipitated history’s first murder. Before Cain rose up and killed Abel while they were in the field he was first very angry and his face fell (Genesis 3.5). Jesus warned us that it is not only the murderer but the one who is angry is in danger of judgment. Anger is a scourge in the soul and it is the father who is called by God to guard the soul of the child and to protect it from anger.
Proverbs 22:24-25 Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. One must wonder how many angry young teenagers, first learned the way of anger from their fathers. Fathers, we will see in just a moment that you must provide discipline for your children, but that should never be done in anger. It is never right for dads to neglect, yell, or abuse their children, never. Many fathers need to repent of these things, seek God and their children’s forgiveness, and learn to love and nurture their children.
The word used here is provoke meaning to incite or exasperate. Another form of this word is used in Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. So, fathers, just as you can provoke your children to anger, you can also provoke them to love and good works. You can pray that God will give you grace to incite your children to be loving and to do good.
If you are to protect your children from anger, then you must first conquer anger in yourself. If you have anger in your heart this morning, then the best thing you can do for your children is to repent of it now and begin the process of putting it out of your life and putting on love and good works.
Fathers must provide loving discipline.
While it is true that many fathers have been and are abusive and we as Christians must always stand against that, nevertheless, we must not forsake the necessity of loving discipline. Fathers, your children are sinners and your discipline is necessary for the good of their souls. Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him. There are many 30 year old adolescents in our world today whose hearts are still bound up with folly, because it wasn’t driven out when they were children.
Fathers, you are given the primary responsibility for giving discipline to your children. One of the saddest sights to see in our own church culture is a father who leaves the children to their wives. We far too often allow the mothers to set the schedule for the children, see that the schedule is kept, teach the manners, make the decisions, and give the spanking. While the fathers just hold down the job and then do what they want to do. Then we wonder why our wives are exhausted at the end of the day.
Fathers, God himself tells you to take this load off of your wife and assume it yourself. You are the man in your house, act like it. You are called to lovingly, gently, patiently, kindly, and gracefully lead your family, which includes providing discipline for your children. Your children need your discipline and your wife needs your leadership.
Fathers must promote biblical instruction.
This passage begins with instructions for children to obey their parents in the Lord and concludes with instructions for parents to instruct their children in the Lord. Fathers and mothers are wise to give themselves to instructing their children, in their homes, in the 10 commandments. It occurs to me that parents might find children more faithful to obey if parents would be more faithful to instruct. Listen again to one of the most important passages on this topic in all of Scripture.
Deuteronomy 6.4-9 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
One of the great needs in the American church today and in our church particularly is a return to the practice of family worship. Fathers, you have the responsibility before God to teach your children God’s word. This is your responsibility for your children, not the pastor, the children’s pastor, the Sunday school teacher, or even your wife (primarily), but yours. You are called by God to teach your children, you can do it, and you must do it.
You may say that you wouldn’t even know where to start and we can provide you with helps for it. Talk to myself, or Pastor Tony, and we’ll get you started, but I’m convinced most men don’t do it because they don’t want to. Family worship, bible study in the home just isn’t as fun as playing golf, watching football, going hunting, or making more money, and in so much as this is the case the only thing that will do is repentance. Fathers, if you are more concerned about your own leisure than your children’s souls, then you must repent of your sin and seek forgiveness from God.
This past week was a unique and challenging week for our family. We had decided that I would attend the Southern Baptist Convention and Laurie would take the kids for a weekend get away with both grandparents. Laurie was quite ill and we consider a change of plans, but in the end we did it and she made it through. I didn’t enjoy being away from my family for those couple of days and I was thrilled to get back home. As we settled in Wednesday night, our three year old, Erin wanted to show me something she was so excited about. She dug through the suitcase and finally found the treasure. It was a Christmas ornament, a little snow globe with two kittens inside. I can’t emphasize enough how excited she was.
I had stepped outside to play with Nate on the front steps. I took the snow globe held it by the string and in just a moment the knot slipped and that globe fell to the sidewalk and shattered. It was awful. It took Erin a few seconds to realize what had happened and when she did she cried for a long time. This father felt like a heel. I promised to buy her another one (although I wasn’t excited about spending any amount of money on it) and I did on Thursday afternoon. We found a similar replacement and all was well until we got home. This replacement ornament fell from the table and it too shattered in pieces. Erin wanted a replacement, but Dad was running low on funds so we had to have a talk. The talk went something like this.
Erin I’m so sorry both your ornaments have broken. I know you’re disappointed. Did you know that Daddy has had things he’s cared about that have broken? You mean your ornament broke? Well, not necessarily an ornament, but others things I’ve cared about have been lost or destroyed.
We all have things that we like that break sometimes. Do you know that we have something more important than any of our things, something that will never break? Do you know what it is? Jesus! That’s right Jesus is more important than anything we can have and he never breaks and that means we can be happy even when the things we like shatter. Is Jesus better than having another ornament? Can you be happy even though yours broke?
God gave us grace and the talk actually seemed to work. We might make it through the ornament crisis without going broke. Erin thought I was speaking of toys I’d lost. That probably is true, but closer to my heart are the relationships I’ve lost, the pain I’ve known in ministry, and the dreams that have been shattered. Jesus is greater than all those things. In the end, everything this world offers is just a glass trinket that will someday shatter and leave us weeping in pain if we love it more than Jesus.
Fathers, do you know that Jesus is greater than your career, your title, your hobby, and your selfish desire for pleasure? Fathers, do you know that it is your calling to teach your children to live for something more than the silly trinkets this world can offer? Fathers, do you know that you must teach your children that Jesus Christ Himself is the greatest treasure in the Universe?
