Father's Day
Missing in Action or Right on the Money?
Joshua 24:15
"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve ; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell : but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
The idea for creating a day for children to honor fathers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. Having been raised by her father after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It had been her father who had made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Her father had been born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June 1910. In 1924 president Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.
Men, America needs you! Men, your families need you. Men, your communities need you. Men, your church needs you, and God wants to use you.
The Bible says to give honor unto whom honor is due. Men, my desire in this message is to honor you. I also wish to challenge you. Today, needs abound far beyond the scope of fatherhood as traditionally defined.
Many of you have already raised your children. In fact, your children may be grown and have families of their own. If that is the case, perhaps your opportunity for spiritual influence is greater now than it has ever been. Fathers, I hate to break it to you, but your job is not finished. You have the opportunity now to mentor your adult children, to come alongside of them, not in an overbearing, intrusive way, but through a nurturing, guiding, quiet voice of experience. Experience is the greatest teacher, and you can profoundly impact your children's families through the lessons you have learned from your own past. It is amazing how hindsight is 20/20, isn't it?
You now have the opportunity to spend time with your grandchildren, time that perhaps you were not able to spend with your own children. Imagine the spiritual influence and presence you could have in molding your grandchildren's lives!
Needs abound far beyond the scope of fatherhood, as traditionally defined. Men, there are opportunities to be a fatherly spiritual influence to the fatherless, or to the spiritually orphaned. There are children everywhere without father figures in their lives. We have all kinds of programs designed to place a physical father figure in their lives. There are Big Brothers, Boy Scouts of America, foster care services, and adoption agencies, just to name a few, but do any organizations exist which place surrogate spiritual father figures in the lives of these children? Men, you could be that spiritual father-figure! I know, because God has given me that opportunity on several occasions.
One time a little boy was asked to define Father's Day and he said, "It's just like Mother's Day, only you don't spend as much on the present."
This would seem to imply that the father somehow plays a lesser role. While this is cute and we smile at it, there is at least a degree of truth to it.
Unfortunately, this often expresses itself most evidently in the case of spiritual influence.
Billy Graham put it this way, "A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society." I would add that a godly father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and unappreciated heroes in all humanity.
We could go to many places in The Bible for examples of godly fathers. In fact, we would do well to start right "in the beginning", if you will, where we find the very first mention of a father. It is no accident that the very first man, Adam, as soon as he had a mate, Eve, began to produce offspring. Through the union of man and wife, we see God's plan for multiplying and subduing the earth through the reproduction process, producing offspring, better known to us as children. Adam became mankind's first father.
From the very beginning God created the institution of the family.
God made a figurehead for that family, which is the father. The father is the earthly representation of the Heavenly Father. However, we live in a day and culture that purposefully tries to marginalize, or certainly minimize, the role of fathers. Through television and many other forms of media, the role of the father has been, and is still being redefined. The more the role is redefined by man, the further it gets from being what God intended for a father to be.
There are many reasons for this and none are by accident. The thing that needs to be understood here, is that regardless of the destructive influence, if it serves to break down the family, then it in turn breaks down the individual members of the family with devastating consequences! What better way to break down the family than to break down the role of the father?
Unfortunately, fathers have too often made themselves easy targets.
Many fathers today are A.W.O.L., having simply fulfilled a biological role and little else. We are being told that is okay; it is not! Some fathers are more or less involved, but function more in an absentee role, pursuing careers, hobbies, or any other number of things instead of the role God intended. Still others are under the family roof, but that is about it.
God designed us, men, to be his earthly representative in every way.
Clearly the Bible says we are created in His image. While we have a physical responsibility in producing children, this alone does not constitute a father, except in the most technical sense of the definition. God has created us, fathers, as the spiritual heads of the families. Just as Christ is the spiritual head of the Church, we are to be the spiritual heads of our families. As fathers, our primarily responsibility is for the spiritual well-being of the children whom God allows us to have. While there is no greater privilege, there is also no greater responsibility!
Fathers, we must be sure that we are pursuing balanced lives. We must strike a balance between being a provider and a contributing spiritual presence in the home. We need to make our families our priority. A career or job simply allows us to support our families. In no way must it become a substitute for being the spiritual leader in the family. We need to make spending quality time with our children a priority.
We need to make spending quality time with the mothers of our children a priority. Children need to know that their father loves their mother.
Fathers, we must be leading our homes by example. We must assume responsibility for meeting the physical needs of our families, but we must assume equal responsibility for meeting the spiritual needs of our families. We must be the spiritual leaders in our homes. Children should see fathers who are determined to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and are actively pursuing that relationship. Fathers, we must set the spiritual examples in our homes.
Joshua 24:15 says, "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve ; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell : but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Children should see fathers who are not afraid or ashamed to bring Jesus up in conversation, both within and without the home. Fathers, we must not default to our wives by forcing them to always initiate things of a spiritual nature. A relationship with Jesus Christ is not only for women. I recently saw a bumper sticker that said, "Real Men Love Jesus!" Men, if your wife is bringing the kids to church, you need to come, too. If your wife is praying with the kids, you need to make time to pray, too. If your wife is reading Bible stories with the kids, you need to make time to join in. We must be careful not to give the impression that it is just something we are going along with. Children should see fathers who are following the Lord themselves, not just telling others to follow. Children should see fathers who love the Lord with all their hearts. Children should see fathers who regularly read their Bibles. Children should see and hear fathers who regularly pray, and not just when they hit their thumbs with hammers.
Obviously, these are best case scenarios. Everyone makes mistakes. Then what do we do, Dads? We pick-up where we are, and we move forward. We pick up the pieces, and we put together what we have to work with. Sometimes we will really blow it. When that happens, we know it, our wives know and our kids know it. Unfortunately, the role of father does not come with an instruction manual. Being human, we do the best we can, and still we fail. When we fail our children, the best thing we can show them is a humility that admits that we might not have gotten this one right. The best thing to do is admit the mistake, correct the mistake as much as possible, take responsibility for the mistake, and move forward. Our children deserve fathers who can admit mistakes. Our wives deserve husbands who can admit mistakes.
Our children deserve godly fathers. Our wives deserve godly husbands. Our grandchildren deserve godly grandfathers. Fathers, are we spiritually leading our homes?
"Well, Pastor Ritchie," you say, "I'm not sure if I am or not. I have made a lot of mistakes..."
Well, I have some good news for you! Life is messy. We do not always get it right. Those mistakes are in the past. You can start now by being a godly father, grandfather, or father figure from this day forward. Isn't God good?
Fathers, I have challenged you. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, and through Christ we can do all things! (Philippians 4:13) There is no condemnation in Christ, only forgiveness! (Romans 8:1) There is no guilt in Christ, only a better future!
Men, America needs you. Your families need you more than ever before. Your communities need you, if they are to survive. Your church needs you, and God wants to use you.
I have challenged you, but I also want to honor you, not because you are perfect, but because you are living in a God-given role and you deserve honor. I want to honor you for having a relationship with The One Who Is Perfect, Jesus Christ! I want to honor you for all the future opportunities you have to spiritually impact those whom God gives you to influence.
Happy Father's Day!
