Dads Who Disciple

Dads Who Disciple

1 Thessalonians 2:10-12; Ephesians 6:4; Malachi 4:6

Rev. Brian Bill

June 17-18, 2023

A couple months ago, Beth hosted a baby shower for our youngest daughter Megan. BTW, Megan and Lucas have been entrusted with a new baby named Mack Josef!

Guys, how many of you have ever been roped into going to a baby shower or a wedding shower? I’ve only attended one and immediately started looking for the exits. They played an awkward shower game and just served finger food and Quiche. I kept looking for the pizza or the taco bar.

A couple of my sisters were planning to come to the shower and let me know they were bringing my dad. I immediately called my dad, thinking he was going soft on me. We get right to the point when we talk on the phone. I said, “Hey, what’s the deal with you going to a baby shower?” He replied, “What? I’d never go to one of those things. I’m driving down with your sisters so you and I can go out and do guy stuff!”

When my dad arrived, he didn’t even want to go in the house because it was filling with shower guests. He cautiously entered the front door, greeted Megan, and then gave me a head nod and said, “Let’s get out of here!” That’s all the encouragement I needed.

We went straight to Steel Plow for some deep-fried cheese curds and $15 hamburgers. When we were done, we headed to Hy-Vee so he could stock up on some Boetje’s mustard. Then we went to Menard’s and stumbled around for about 45 minutes (how many of you know Menard’s has a second floor?). Can you tell we were burning time? After we started doing laps in Menard’s, my dad declared, “Let’s go to Whitey’s. My treat.” I said, “I’m in.”

After being gone nearly three hours, we thought it would be safe to return home. Unfortunately, our timing was off, and my dad had to go in the house while shower shrapnel was still going on. He sniffed at the quiche he was offered and before long, he was outside by his truck, waiting for my sisters to haul him back to the Promised Land. I thanked him for coming and he thanked me for getting him out of the shower. We gave each other a manly handshake and grunted that we’d see each other soon.

Dads, we want to say thanks today. Normally the pattern for preachers, me included, has been to magnify moms on Mother’s Day and to diss dads on Father’s Day. One article captures this sentiment, “Many men say they are tired of the ‘put-down’ cards and would like some affirmation for a change…”

I hope you will find this sermon affirming for a change. I celebrate the commitment to fathering that I see in a number of young dads, most especially in my four sons-in-law – Matt, Jamie, Brad, and now Lucas. They’re all much better dads than I was and very involved with their children. I see the same here at Edgewood. There are many devoted dads in this church who play and pray with their kids as they live on mission in their family. We see you, dads. We celebrate how you are making young disciples and we want to give you some affirmation for a change.

I recognize that for many of you this day is difficult because your dad is no longer here or has dropped the ball somehow. The U.S. Census Bureau stated recently that we have become a fatherless nation. About 10 years ago, 33% of children in America went to bed without their biological father in the home. Today, according to James Merritt, 43% of American kids live in a home without their biological father. Sadly, the U.S. owns the title of the world’s leader in fatherlessness.

Some of us have been blessed with tremendous models of what fatherhood was meant to be. But there are others who have been ignored, neglected, abused, or abandoned. Perhaps the father of your children is absent or emotionally distant. For you and others, Father’s Day is anything but happy.

I sincerely hope that you will allow our Heavenly Father to meet what is lacking in your life. May you experience the truth of Psalm 68:5: “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation.”

On this Father’s Day weekend, let’s turn to Scripture and pray the Lord’s Prayer together.

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy Name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,