A Father's Song

The Father’s Song

Psalm 128

I was going to start Father’s Day with a poem… but Dads don’t like mushy, tear jerking poems.

I thought about having someone stand and tell about their Dad… but that is too mushy for Dads too

And really, Father’s Day is not like Mother’s Day… there are not even 1/3 as many poems or 1/5 as many stories.

I did hear a Dad story I liked…

After putting their three-year-old child Brian in bed, his parents heard muffled sobs coming from his room one night. Rushing back in, they found that the child was crying hysterically when he saw them. He told his parents that he had accidentally swallowed a penny and was sure that he would die now. The father, in an attempt to calm him down, took out a penny from his pocket and pretended to pull it out from Brian’s ear. The child was really thrilled and stopped crying at once. In a flash, he snatched the penny from his dad’s hand, swallowed it, and then cheerfully demanded, "Do it again, Dad!"

Father’s Day is like a cheap version of Mother’s Day…

If Mother’s Day is the Mona Liza of holidays… Father’s Day is Andy Warhol.

If Mother’s Day is the Hallelujah chorus… Father’s Day is chopsticks.

This is a true fact… before cell phones… when you had to use long distance…

Mother’s Day had the largest number of long distance calls

Father’s Day had the greatest number of COLLECT calls

Take greeting cards… Father’s Day cards are always last minute purchases

A 16-year-old boy was out late with friends one night. Suddenly he realized it was Father’s Day and he had neglected to buy a card for his dad. After much searching, he located an open store, but was disappointed to find only two cards left on a picked-over rack. Selecting one, he brought it home and, somewhat sheepishly, presented it to our father.

Upon opening it, Dad read this message: “You’ve been like a father to me.” He looked at the boy, puzzled.

“Well, Dad,” the boy tried to explain, “it was either that or the card that said, ‘Now that I’m a father too!’”

Even in the scripture fathers get shorted…While writing a Father’s Day sermon I realized that there is no quintessential scripture like there is for Mother’s Day. Probably 75% of Mother’s Day sermons are based on Proverbs 31. But where is the Proverbs 31 for the Father? There is not one.

I’m just kidding about Father’s getting the short end of the stick. I was just trying to be humorous.

But truly, it is hard to find a Father’s Day scripture.

There are plenty of good biblical examples of Fathers… and even more bad examples. But where is the word picture of the ideal Father?

I think the closest thing would be the Psalm we read today… Psalm 128.

Blessed is the man (the one) that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. KJV

Did you know the President’s name is in the bible? "barak" which means "blessed".

bless•ed

adjective

1. consecrated; sacred; holy; sanctified: the Blessed Sacrament.

2. divinely or supremely favored; fortunate: to be blessed with a strong, healthy body; blessed with an ability to find friends.

3. blissfully happy or contented.

In our scripture today it is used in the latter two ways… blessed with gifts and blissfully happy or contented

Thus: Blissfully happy and contented is the man who fears the Lord God and obeys His will

If you are not a preacher and not at church and you ask the average person (at work, school, gym, golf course)

“What would make you totally happy?”

There are as many answers as there are people… but most of them would fall into three of categories…

Possessions

Accomplishments

Relationships

I’m not putting any of them down. Those things can bring happiness.

But God’s Word tells us that the ONLY thing in life that can bring TRUE happiness and contentment is…

Fearing God which IS--- OBEDIENCE

I’d like to tell you there is another way… but God says there is not!!!

You can listen to the siren song of the world that tells you there are many paths to happiness

And you can follow whichever one seems right to you

But the scripture is clear…

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it does not get you there (it leads to death)

The only true road which will ultimately end in happiness and fulfillment is honoring and obeying God’s word and will

Read it right there in verse 1… the path to happiness is obedience

So I can tell you that a good father fears and obeys God

A father needs to fear and obey his God the way he does his wife…