OPEN: Proverbs 31 tells about the value of virtuous wife and mother. One woman has taken those thoughts from that chapter and applied them to her husbands and the father of her children:
Who can find a virtuous man? For his worth is far above chocolate.
The heart of his wife safely trusts him; for he will not mess around with bimbos.
He does her good and not evil all the days of his life.
He seeks motor oil and socket wrenches, And willingly works with his hands.
He rises while it is yet night, And makes coffee for her household, and feedeth the cats.
He considers a stock and buys it; From his profits he invests in a mutual fund.
He girds himself with sensitivity, and learns the art of listening.
He perceives that his benefits are good, and his lamp does not go out by night unless – of course - his Beloved desires his presence.
He extends his hand to the poor, Yes, he reaches out his hands to the needy.
He is not afraid of snow for his household, For all his household is stocked with batteries, a kerosene heater… and kitty litter for icy spots
He takes an interest in the laundry, and yea, can wield an iron and the can of spray starch and his socks match.
He remembers birthdays and writeth his own cards, and helps with the Christmas shopping and wrapping.
He watches not over-muchly of sporting events, And does not eat the potato chips of idleness.
His children rise up and call him Daddy, especially when his wife is down with the flu;
His wife also, and she praises him saying "I can’t believe you did the dishes all by yourself."
Charm is deceitful and hunkiness is passing,
But a man who fears the LORD, he shall be praised.
Let his works praise him in the women’s group.
APPLY: That woman had a high regard for her husband.
And the Bible tells us God also has a high regard for on Godly husbands and fathers.
In the days of Genesis Godly fathers and husbands were the leaders and priests and prophets of their homes. When they pronounced a blessing or a curse… those blessings and curses carried weight with God. These fathers spoke and things happened.
I believe God told us the stories of these men and their families so that we would see the powerful influence Godly fathers/ husbands can have in their homes.
Psalm 128 repeats a common theme in Scripture: God has a very high regard for dads. Why? Because earthly fathers are the model of our relationship with God… our “heavenly Father”.
QUOTE: As one man once said: “God loves fathers. He is one.” (Dr. James I. Lamb)
In this psalm God tell earthly fathers that He wants to bless their families and make them strong. He wants to make their homes to be safe and happy places. And He’s telling fathers (in this psalm) there are some things they can do to ensure that result.
So what can fathers do to obtain God’s blessing?
I. Well, the first thing is this… Godly fathers have to want their homes to succeed. Notice the location of the blessings listed in Psalms 128:3. “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table.”
Notice: it’s "Within your house" "Around your table."
Too many men find their greatest joys at work, in recreation, possessions, etc.
Now, as breadwinners, men HAVE to work… you can’t be at home all the time.
And there’s nothing wrong with having some recreation time, playing golf or going fishing.
Nor is there anything particularly wrong with possessions that you enjoy having around.
But, we need to realize that the allure of those aspects of our lives (job/recreation/possessions) can distract us from the priority of our homes and families.
ILLUS: William Willimon told about an adult Sunday School class where they were studying about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. The teacher asked "How are we tempted today?"
A young salesman was the first to speak.
"Temptation is when your boss calls you in as mine did yesterday, and says ’I’m going to give you a real opportunity. I’m going to give you a bigger sales territory. We believe you are going places young man.’
‘But I don’t want a bigger sales territory,’ the young salesman told his boss. ‘I’m already away from home 4 nights a week. It wouldn’t be fair to my wife and daughter.’
‘Look,’ his boss replied, ‘We’re asking you to do this for your wife and daughter. Don’t you want to be a good father? It takes money to support a family these days. Sure, your little girl doesn’t take much money now, but think of the future. Think of her future. I’m only asking you to do this for them,’ the boss said.
The young man paused and then told his class, “Now that’s temptation.” (William Willimon "What’s Right With the Church")
In order to have a God-blessed home, fathers need to make their home a priority. That doesn’t mean we’re always going to be successful at that. Sometimes we’re not going to understand everything we ought to do to in order to be effective fathers… but that’s why God gave us wives. They can help us focus on our goal.
II. Another thing that I noticed in this Psalm was that it emphasized “walking with God”
Look again at that first verse: “Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who WALK in his ways.”
The Bible talks a lot about how we walk. It emphasizes…
Walking before God
Walking in His ways
Walking in His laws, and His ordinances, and His statutes
The whole idea is that we should want to walk with God.
Back in Genesis, we’re told that God came down and walked with Adam in the cool of the evening. There’s an old hymn that has always reminded me of that communion Adam had with God in the Garden (sing it):
“And He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own.”
But as I thought about that hymn this past week, it occurred to me that the impression it had always given me was that God wanted to walk with me. But actually, that’s never really been a problem for God. God has always wanted to walk with His people. The problem is… His people rarely seem to find the time to walk with Him.
Fathers who want God’s blessings in their homes have to decide that they are GOING to take the time to be - walking with God, and talking with God and telling God that they want Him to be their own.
Having Personal Bible study
Spending time alone in prayer
Going to Church
Going to Sunday School
Fellowshipping with other Christians whenever he can
Jesus said “wherever two or more are gathered in my name… there I am”. Every time you and I spend time with God’s people, we’re walking with God, because that’s what Jesus promised.
A Godly father (who wants God’s blessings) makes walking with God a priority, and he models that priority for his family to copy.
ILLUS: Larry Crabb tells about watching his father pray when he was only 4 years old. "It was Sunday morning, and about 50 people gathered in a circle at our (Lord’s Supper) service. The elements, covered simply with a white cloth, were on a table in the middle. The arrangement was intentional: it spoke of Christ as the center of our thoughts.
"Dad stood to pray. I was lying on the floor, looking up at him. Even now, the memory is clear. I thought to myself, ‘He actually thinks he is talking to Someone. And whoever it is means more to him than anyone else...’”
Without even thinking about it, Larry Crabb’s father modeled what his priorities were for his young son. He walked with God at the Communion Table, and his actions spoke to his son of walking and talking and claiming God as his own.
III. Now there’s one more thing in this passage that earthly fathers need to consider.
But it’s the most difficult concepts for men to wrap their minds around. Look again with me to verses 1 & 2 of this psalm: “Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Essentially what it’s saying is this: Fear the LORD… and you shall receive His blessings.
Now, there are people who have problems with the idea of FEARING God. They try to tone down the words. They’ll say this phrase means to “reverence God” or “respect” God or be “devout” with God. Some translations will use those words rather than “fear.”
So I did an extensive word study on this phrase. I wanted to find out what this phrase really meant. And when I looked this passage in Psalm 128 I found the Hebrew phrase is “Yaw-rey Yahweh”. “Yaw-rey” was the word in question, so I looked up every place this phrase was found in Scripture, and you know what I discovered? The term Yaw-rey Yahweh means – “Fear the LORD.”
The idea behind this Hebrew word “Yaw-rey” IS “fear”.
It’s not respect… not reverence … it’s not even being “devout”. It means fear
Ø Jacob cheated his brother Esau out of his inheritance and then fled for his life because his brother Esau said he’d kill him. Fourteen years later Jacob returns to his home and the Bible tells us (Gen. 32:11) that Jacob “feared” Esau and prayed that God would deliver him from his brother’s hand. That’s not respect, or reverence… that’s fear.
Ø In Exodus we’re told of God bringing the 10 plagues upon Egypt and in Exodus 9:20 we’re told that in response to one of those plagues, that Pharaoh’s officials “feared the word of God” and protected their cattle from plague. That’s not respect, or reverence… that’s fear.
Ø Then in Deuteronomy 20:8, God said that certain people didn’t have to go to war. Those who were “fearful and fainthearted” were excused from being in the army.
The idea of “Yah-rey” is fear.
Fear the LORD, says Scripture, and God will bless you.
Ps 103:11 “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him”
Psalms 103:13 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him”
Psalms 34:7 & 9 “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them… Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.”
So, let’s revue: If I fear God, I’m assured
That He loves me
That He has compassion for me
That He assigns an angel to protect me
And He will make sure I lack for nothing.
Hey! I’m good for that! I’ll take all of that God wants to give me.
But, what does it mean to “fear” God?
Well 1st, fearing God means fearing His disapproval more than anyone else’s
ILLUS: Back in the days of Jezebel, it was a frightening thing to be a prophet of God. She killed them wherever she could find them. According to I Kings, there was a man Obadiah who was in employ of Jezebel and her husband Ahab. We’re told that”
“Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water. (I Kings 18:3b-4 KJV)
In other words, Obadiah feared God more than he feared Jezebel.
As frightening and as dangerous as Jezebel was, Obadiah realized she wasn’t nearly as big and bad as God was.
ILLUS: You see, people are often motivated in their actions by fear. Just recently, I heard on the radio a report of a campus in Indianapolis that was going to host some business people from Asia. From what I could gather, there was a rule about not smoking on that campus, but many of these Asian business men were known to love their smoking, and the hosts of this meeting were “afraid” that they would offend these businessmen if they pressed the rule about smoking… so they lifted the smoking ban. Why? Because they were afraid.
People will often make decisions, bad or good, upon whatever they fear most.
Thus, a man who fears God properly - does what is right even when faced with things that could make him afraid. Partly because right is right and wrong is wrong, but more to the point, they do what is right because they realize there is nothing on earth that is nearly as strong and dangerous as their God can be.
A poet named J.H. Newman once wrote:
“Time was, I shrank from what was right,
From fear of what was wrong;
I would not brave the sacred fight,
Because the foe was strong.”
But Godly fathers and husbands fear God. And when we really fear God in the right way there’s nothing else on this earth that can make us afraid. There’s nothing bigger or badder or more powerful than the God we serve
ILLUS: As Oswald Chambers once wrote:
"The remarkable thing about fearing God is that
when you fear God, you fear nothing else,
whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else."
Or as Ps 118:4-8 says
“Let those who fear the LORD say: ‘His love endures forever.’
In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free.
The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.”
The 2nd aspect of fearing God is understanding that we don’t mess with Him.
We don’t take Him for granted
We don’t get Him mad
Just as an example:
The book of I Samuel tells about a time when the priests in Israel were wicked men. They were the sons of Eli the priest and their names were Hophni and Phineas.
At the time Israel was at war with the Philistines and the army of Israel felt the need to have God’s presence with them at the battle front, so they asked Hophni and Phineas to bring the ark to the battle.
What happened? They lost the battle, the priests were killed… and the Ark was stolen by the Philistines.
Why did this happen? Because the leaders of the family of Israel (the wicked priests) thought they could live anyway they wanted and still count on God to help them fight their battles.
ILLUS: When I was a boy, my dad had boundaries. There were lines you didn’t cross.
If I crossed those lines, there was a price to pay. There was a punishment to be endured.
Now… did I fear my dad? Yes I did.
But ONLY if I had crossed over those lines… or if I was considering crossing those lines.
Did I love my dad? Sure did! I knew he was being as fair as he could be.
He had set his boundaries because they were “right” boundaries… and I knew he really wanted what was best for me.
As Hebrews12:9-10 “…We have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.”
So, AS earthly fathers, it’s important for us to know where God’s boundaries are at. We need to know where God draws the line.
Psalms 34:11-14 tells us: “Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.” (I’ll teach you where the boundaries are)
“Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”
Fearing God is knowing where He has drawn the lines and determining to draw those same lines in our own lives and homes.
CLOSE: So, let’s revue
If I want to be a Godly father, and recieve all the blessings He wants to give my family…
1st – I need to make my family a priority
2nd – I need to determine to walk with God – to be with Him whenever possible
3rd – I need to have a proper fear of God… to fear Him more than anything else in this life.
Andrew Gillies once wrote a poem called “Confession To Father”
Last night my little boy confessed to me some childish wrong;
And kneeling at my knee he prayed with tears:
"Dear God make me a man like Daddy - wise and strong
I know you can." Then he slept.
I knelt beside his bed, confessed my sins
And prayed with low bowed head.
"Oh God, make me a child like my child here -
Pure guileless, trusting thee with faith sincere.”
