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…
A man came home with a cupcake he had gotten at the office. He had three kids and had to decide to which one he would give it. So he asked…
OK who obeys Mom every day?
Who does everything she says without complaining?
To which the oldest one replied, “OK Dad, you get the cupcake”
Or how about the mother who was ill, and the dad who volunteered to go to the supermarket for her. She said she just needed him to pick up a few things!!!!! ((RIGHT!!) Dad comes home about an hour later with several bags and the wife is shocked. Why did you but all these things? He replied, a little perturbed, “I only bought what was on your list!” The wife said, “I only had 7 things on my list… I even numbered it for you.” There was dead silence and dad looked at her with the deer in headlight look and asked… “Numbered… those were numbers…?
He had one bag of sugar, two egg plants, three large bell peppers, four dozen eggs, five boxes of crackers, six boxes of detergent, and seven hams.
Fear and Obey you God and you will be blissfully happy and content.
Secondly: You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
God promises you that if you will fear and obey him… you will reap the rewards of obedience.
God is promising that the labor of your hands… the thing you work hard at… plowing, building, selling, God will cause to come to fruition.
God is saying that He will personally bless your labor and your effort.
This has a double meaning
Physically – God will bless the earthly effort you invest in your profession or job
Spiritually – God will bless your effort to obey Him
God’s own word says… 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction) whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8
It reminds me of a clip from Andy Griffith about “the 75 cent rule”
{{{Play clip}}}
Many people today want God to go by the 75 cent rule… bless them with everything they want but they don’t have to do anything for it.
God is clear… and consistent… God plays by the rule that you put out the effort to be faithful and obedient, and God will bless you as He decides.
That may not make you any happier than it did Opie… but it is just as true.
Our God is good about following the law of reaping and sowing.
Reminds me of the family where the son was 16 and finally got his driver’s license. In order to celebrate the special day, the whole family went out to the driveway and climbed into the car to enjoy his first official drive. However, dad went to the back seat, and sat right behind his boy. When Bob saw his dad he said "Dad, don’t you want to sit up front?" "Nope!” came the quick reply from the dad. "I'm going to sit back here and kick the back of your seat while you drive, just like you've been doing to me for the last sixteen years!"
Thirdly,
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;
Here, God is promising that the man’s wife will be fertile and produce many children.
Today God might promise… you will prosper financially.
But in this psalm, God was speaking to an agrarian (farming) culture and grapevines were Jewish symbols of prosperity, of abundant life.
Large families were especially regarded as a mark of prosperity in Bible times where life was agriculturally-based; people lived in extended families, several generations under the same roof.
A poor man with a large family was actually considered more blessed than a millionaire with no kids.
FYI: What’s the difference between a millionaire and a couple with 6 children?
The millionaire wants more!
In that society all mane would want more kids and when God promised the wife would be fertile and give them many children… that was just about the greatest earthly blessing any man could dream of.
So a wife was a treasured blessing for any man… He prised her… treasured her
Like the man in the Lamaze class. The instructor was teaching the women how to breathe properly, along with informing the men how to give the necessary assurances at this stage of the plan.
The teacher then announced, “Ladies, exercise is good for you. Walking is especially beneficial. And, gentlemen, it wouldn’t hurt you to take the time to go walking with your wife!”
The room really got quiet. Finally, a man in the middle of the group raised his hand.
“Yes?” replied the teacher.
“Is it all right if she carries a golf bag while we walk?”
That probably is not treasuring your wife… is it?
A good wife is a blessing…. “her value is far above rubies.”
Lastly: your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
Today we do not understand the promise of children being like olive shoots. Let me explain.
In the land of the Bible, the Olive tree was, and is, the most important of all the trees because it is a source of food, light, hygiene and healing. For nearly 6,000 years, olives have been eaten as a Mediterranean staple food and olive oil has been used for cooking, in lamps for light, for medicine, and for anointing oil in religious ceremonies. By the time of the Roman conquest of Judea, the olive had become one of the most basic dietary items, even of the poor.
This is a picture of an olive tree at maturity. Notice how all of the branches are thick and the branches are very green. However… Olive branches have to regularly be pruned or cut off because they lose their vigor and do not produce as much fruit. They are pruned in order to allow the other branches to receive more nutrients and sunlight and thus produce more fruit. As the tree ages… more and more branches are cut off. This is an Olive tree that is old… notice how most of the trunk or branches are gone and only one branch remains. Though this branch may produce many olives this year… the gardener is concerned about much more than this years crop.
In our modern-day… microwave, lightening fast internet world… we tend to live for the minute, with little thought of tomorrow.
Not so for the Psalmist and his day… they were constantly thinking of the long run… the big picture… tomorrow’s crops… that was their retirement account… their hope for the future.
AS the trees became older and were pruned away… this presented an ugly prospect for the future of the gardener.
His greatest source of joy and hope was not a large crop this year… but tiny little buds that appeared on the old stump…. Olive shoots that promised a future for the gardener and his children after him.
Each year the gardener would look in hope for these shoots because it could be up to 15 years before this shoot would produce fruit… so they had to be started and cared for early on.
In an agrarian society where the government taxed the people, sometimes heavily, but gave back no welfare, social security or assistance programs… a man’s only hope for his old age was to have sons… the more the better. Sons could work the garden, harvest the crops, provide strong backs for building and maintaining a home, and could give grandsons… hope for the future.
Children, particularly sons, were as much a welcome sight as olive shoots in the garden.
God was promising prosperity, hope, a future, peace… many things when He promised the children.
It was a different day!!
Today, children are often seen as a curse… a strain on the finances.
Reminds me of the young man in college who writes to his father to ask for some money:
Dear Father,
$chool i$ really great. I am making lot$ of friend$ and $tudying very hard. With all my $tuff, I $imply can’t think of anything I need, $o if you would like, you can ju$t $end me a card, a$ I would love to hear from you.
Love,
Your $on.
After receiving his son’s letter, the father immediately replies by sending a letter back.
Dear Son,
I kNOw that astroNOmy, ecoNOmics, and oceaNOgraphy are eNOugh to keep even an hoNOr student busy. Do NOt forget that the pursuit of kNOwledge is a NOble task, and you can NOt study eNOugh.
Love,
Dad
In recapping…
1. The path to blissful happiness and contentment is… to fear and obey the Lord your God
2. God will bless you with the fruit of your labor… God will bless your efforts and your faithfulness
3. God will bless you with prosperity
a. A sin a fertile wife
4. God will bless you with Long life
a. As in many generations
As goes the Father… so goes the home
Look in bible… to whom does God look to be the leader?
DAD…..MAN
Joshua understood…. As for me… AND MY HOUSE
When Adam and Eve sinned… To whom did God come?
God is looking to YOU, Dad, to be the leader and he will hold YOU accountable.
