Father’s Day
I remember on one Father’s Day we were visiting the church of Karenlee’s Uncle Jim. In SS class the teacher was expounding on Proverbs 22:6, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” And the main point the teacher was forcefully bringing was that if you train up your child they will ultimately surrender their heart to God even if it takes a long time for it to happen. This of course put the burden of the child’s salvation squarely on the shoulders of the parents.
Then we moved up stairs and heard a forceful sermon that proposed the idea that God chooses some for salvation and He rejects others and there is nothing that any one in either of the groups can do about it.
This led me to a great deal of wondering; “Is it all up to me or is it all up to God?”
Can my life and training of my child lead him or her to come to know Christ as Savior or will it happen in spite of anything I do.
The main thing I got out of that Sunday was that the pastor and the Sunday School teacher need to get together and have a theological discussion.
When we hear the words “Father’s Day” some very important things immediately pop into our minds, like, “What kind of a tie am I going to get this year?”
Actually, the images that pop into our heads are normally controlled by the type of father we had, good, bad, or absent, emotionally close or distant, geographically close or distant, living or deceased …
How they treated us when we were young. Were they involved in our lives?
Were they married to their jobs and seldom home?
Were they a drunkard or a sober person?
Were they kind or mean?
Did they love Jesus or use His name as a curse word?
Were there multiple men who filled the position of father due to death or divorce?
Another thing that can bring thoughts to mind is a question only fathers can answer?
Was I a good father?
Did I teach them the things they needed to know about living here and in eternity?
Did I show them that God had supreme position in my life with my actions?
When Sunday worship came around was it a top priority or could it easily be replaced by some other activity?
Was there any evidence in my life that I was sacrificing time and money for the Lord and His work?
Did my children see me pondering the great things of God or did I spend more time belittling someone from another denomination?
Fathers … do they really even matter any more?
Jesus Himself laid down some foundational principles.
Matthew 19:4-6
“And [Jesus] answered and said, ‘Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.’”
There was no official Father’s Day in the time of Christ but Jesus had some very concrete ideas about the family structure.
A Father and a Mother would have children who would have a Father and a Mother and the children would eventually marry and have children who would naturally have a Father and a Mother and on and on …
Today we are in a world of confusion. Traditional marriage or two moms or two dads or one dad and two moms or unwed parents or single moms or single dads.
Case in point:
Bruce Jenner - recently divorced from his third wife with multiple children from multiple marriages.
Bruce - an amazing athlete - Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon. Considered to be the greatest athlete in the world at that time.
Now Bruce has had multiple surgeries and considers himself to be a woman.
Is he now the mom to his children or is he still their dad?
If his DNA was tested what would the results be? Male.
No amount of surgery could ever change that.
If Jenner were to come to church which restroom would he use?
The world has gone CRAZY!
This week I read about the father of a three year old who “seems transgender”. The father is quoted as saying,
"I wonder if I'm holding him back. Like, should I be asking, 'Do you want to be called a he or she?'"
Men have husbands.
Women have wives.
In Las Vegas a person can pay up to $85 to see a show of men dressed as women.
There is now a white woman who claims that she is a black woman on the inside
Addiction to alcohol and other drugs is skyrocketing.
Addictions to gambling and pornography and prostitution
There is such a thing as sex tourism.
Human trafficking (slavery) is at an all time high and it’s not for the benefit of the slaves!
People are basing their life decisions on horoscopes or the babblings of some psychic
There are doctors who are willing to do anything if you pay them enough; abortion, sex changes, sex change reversals
Women are dying from injecting silicone caulk into their facial cheeks, lips and rear ends
Some women are starving themselves or running into the bathroom to shove their fingers down their throats in order to make themselves vomit
Men are taking steroids that will shorten their lives by decades in order to have gigantic muscles
The world has gone crazy … why?
A hollow place in their hearts.
When God created us He created within us a need for Him.
We were designed specifically for a relationship with God.
Jesus came to provide the avenue for that relationship with Him and the Holy Spirit was sent to guide us into that relationship and when we choose some other thing in an attempt to fill that hollow space in our hearts it will end in disaster.
Imagine that you had a gaping wound on your arm and you went to the doctor for treatment. The doctor said, “Sure I can help you.” But when he came to you he had this old bandage that he had taken off from some other person’s wound. This other person had a terrible infection and the bandage was all covered with puss dripping from it. Now the doctor says, “Trust me, this will help.” But, you know it won’t; it will kill you instead.
Sin is a giant gaping wound in our souls and the only healing is through Jesus!
The world will tell us that it can help but it will only make things worse.
1 Corinthians 14:33a
“God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”
In this world which is a mixed up mess how are we to sort out the things which cause confusion in order to establish peace?
The key is Pentecost - not actually Pentecost but the gift of the Holy Spirit given to us on that day of Pentecost nearly 2,000 years ago.
The Greek word used for Counselor or Comforter in the New Testament is parakletos which makes Him our Paraclete.
The image of this is someone who comes along beside you. Suppose you are running away from a forest fire and you fall and break your leg. You face certain death. Suddenly someone comes along beside you, He helps you up, He invites you to put your arm around His shoulder and He puts His strong arm around your waist to support you and together you escape the flames and are saved.
This world is like that forest fire of sin and our sinful nature is like that broken leg and without help and guidance we will end up engulfed in flames.
The Holy Spirit was sent to come along side us and to keep from all of the confusion of this world.
When we hear about people getting sex change operations and deviant sexual practices and alcohol addictions and drug addictions and pornography addictions and gambling addictions and money addictions and wallowing in the occult we often are tempted to look upon them with disdain and ridicule.
They don’t have the Holy Spirit! They may have very well rejected Him at one point or another in their lives but they don’t have the Holy Spirit.
Wouldn’t it be better if we were to pity them in their lostness?
Wouldn’t it be better if we were to pray for them?
Wouldn’t it be better if we were to somehow speak the words of life to them in a loving way?
They are binding up their wounds with filthy bandages!
And all they time they are spinning down into the cesspool of despair the evil one is laughing his maniacal laugh although he will never feel joy or satisfaction with the destruction of another soul.
On Father’s day we think of fathers coming along the side of their children to teach them right from wrong and to guide them.
That’s not only the duty of fathers to come along side of their children it is the duty of all of us who are aided by and filled with the Holy Spirit to come along side those who are lost and spinning down into the depths of sin.
There is a saying attributed to John Bradford. At one time it is said that he was observing a group of prisoners being led to their execution and he said, “There but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford.”
When we look at the multitude of sins that is destroying many around us we too can say, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”
When we look at confused people like Bruce Jenner or the people of ISIS or the drunkard lying in the gutter we should not look down on them in disdain.
We should look up to our Father in heaven and say, “Thank you, Jesus!”
We should look up to our Father in heaven and say, “Help me to tell this lost soul about the great gift of salvation found in Jesus!”
You see, Jesus didn’t wait until we were righteous before He took us in. He took us in when we were in the throes of sin ourselves.
Listen to this song by Dallas Holm and see if you can identify with the lyrics:
“At my worst You found me”
At my worst You found me,
At my worst You died.
At my worst You loved me,
And at my worst You tried
To tell me that the best thing I could do
Would be to give my life to You.
At my worst You loved me,
And now I love You, too.
How could You love me, Jesus?
How did you know my name?
Why did you save me, Jesus?
Oh, I'll never know how you love me so.
And I'll never see what You saw in me.
How could You love me, Jesus?
How did You know my name?
Why did You save me, Jesus?
Oh, I'll never know how You loved me so.
At my worst You loved me,
And at my worst You tried
To tell me that the best thing I could do
Would be to give my life to You.
At my worst You loved me,
And now I love You, too.
More lyrics http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/dallas_holm/at_my_worst_you_found_me-lyrics-1195476.html#ixzz3e6dOMzC8
We were all at our worst when Jesus found us. What about you?
Invitation
