Making Of Godly Fathers

OPENING ILLUSTRATION: Play the video “They will never stop looking at you.”

INTRODUCTION: FATHERLESSNESS: All children have a father, but not all children have a father in their life.

An estimated 24.7 million children (33%) live absent their biological father. According to 72.2 % of the U.S. population, fatherlessness is the most significant family or social problem facing America.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, children from fatherless homes account for:

63% of youth suicides

90% of youth runaways

71% of all high school dropouts

70% of youth in juvenile detentions

85% of men incarcerated

Our modern society rejects the reality that fathers are the natural head of the household. After decades of telling men their strong moral compass was toxic and needed to be destroyed, we created a nation of absentee dads. You’ve heard about the crisis of fatherlessness and the negative consequences for children and for our society. Even if you are an involved dad, until we are successful, your children and grandchildren will be growing up in a culture of absent fathers and unfathered children. They will be affected!

God is very serious about “Fatherlessness.” The last 2 verses of the OT in Malachi 4:5-6 He says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." God calls fatherlessness a curse. However, in Luke 1:17 “He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." We see John the Baptist had to bring the fathers to the children and the unrighteous to the righteous to prepare the way for Christ’s first coming and ministry.

Till we do not solve the problem of “Fatherlessness” in our nation, we will not be able to solve any other problems. We will just put band-aids and superficially cover up things. The root issue is the curse of fatherlessness. This cannot be solved till we encounter God as a Father in our lives.

WHAT MAKES GODLY FATHERS?

It’s a challenge and a joy to be a father. It doesn’t always mean you have to procreate in order to be a father. Paul speaks a lot of spiritual fatherhood. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that you may have 10,000 teachers but not many fathers. Then he says I have become a father to you. I don’t know how you may remember your father. You may have fond memories and several of us may not have good memories. Let’s see through today’s text what makes godly fathers?

1. LIVE TRANSPARENT LIVES (v. 10)

Paul says that we witnessed what kind of life fathers live. What they say, what they liked, where they looked, how they acted and reacted and so on. Did they walk the talk? Integrity!

(i) DEVOTEDLY (pure, holy, sanctified, sacred): When you don’t walk the talk, you just don’t have a message. Kids see your mask and they will eventually see the man behind the mask. You either lead your family to God or further away from God. I wonder what kids are seeing. Do they see a father chasing God or golf ball? Football more than fellowship? Today the generation that is being raised in church leaves the church by the time they come to college. It has become part of the norm in culture. If God is not important to dad, why should He be important to me? Fathers let us set the precedence. Let us live devotedly!

(ii) JUSTLY (fairly): Are you fair to all your kids? Or there are favorites? You can treat a child one way today and another way the next day in a similar situation. The child can see the inconsistencies. It messes them up. Two sociologists from Harvard stated that to avoid delinquency in kids, one must be fair, firm and consistent in discipline with them.

(iii) BLAMELESSLY (not perfect): doesn’t mean without charge … however, you may be charged but it won’t stick. 20 million kids go to bed fatherless daily in our culture. There was a show on British TV (Men Acting Badly) – there is only one solution to it that other me behave godly. It will negate the entire concept. Let us raise in this generation men who will be godly fathers. A boy may love his mother but follow his father. So, dads where are you leading your kids?

2. SPEAK WHOLESOME WORDS (v. 11)

(i) EXHORTED (encourage): Kids today are easily discouraged. Your body language, usage of words and phrases, they quickly lose hope … especially when they are always told what is wrong with them. And what they could do better for the mark you have set for them rather than what is right with them. Proverbs 15:1 “A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.”