A Berlin policeman was crossing the street when a robber raced
by him with an angry store manager in hot pursuit. To the surprise
of hundreds of on lookers the policeman didn't make a move. The
robber got away and the police department was flooded with calls
from indignant citizens. When the policeman was called before his
superiors he explained his actions, or rather his lack of action. When
the robber ran passed him he had only 3 minutes of duty remaining
that day. He knew he couldn't capture and arrest the man in that
short of time, and so he didn't even try. The officials were not
impressed with his logic, but they did respect his right to be a
clock-watcher. They gave him a 7 weeks suspension in jail where he
could watch it all he wished.
There are many jobs you can leave, but jobs, which involve you in
moral issues and services to human need, are almost always full time
jobs. Fighting crime does not consume all of your time if you are a
policeman, but you can never be indifferent to time and be a good
policeman. Fighting disease does not take all of a doctor's time, but if
he is a good doctor he will never be indifferent to disease. A teacher
cannot be always overcoming ignorance, but a good teacher is ever
concerned about ways of doing so. We could go on with other
professions, but the point we are making is that some jobs are not
mere appendages to life, but are a very way of life. Some jobs are
just ways of making a living, but others are ways of living in
themselves.
Fatherhood is one of these fulltime jobs that become a way of
life. It is not a way of making a living, but a living so as to make a
way. That is, a way for children to realize the full potential of all God
has made them to be. Adam Reiter wrote-
You got t' keep a-workin at th' job of bein' Dad.
You'll find its most th' stiffest task, y' prob'ly ever had.
You got t' play th' game yourself, an' not jest point th' way.
T' kids when they're a-learnin' how t' live er else they'll stray.
There ain't no lay-offs an' no strikes, an' you can't up an' quit.
Y' sign up for a lifetime job. Y's got to do yer bit.
Modern studies reveal that many, if not most, of the problems of
youth are due to part time fathers in the American home. The kind
of woman a girl becomes, and the kind of man a boy becomes depends
in large measure of their father image. Some go so far as to say that
the most important thing a mother can do for her children is to guide
them in loving and respecting their father. This is no easy task if the
father himself is not impressed with his responsibility as a father.
This does not mean that all the father's time is consumed with his
children. But it does mean that his whole way of life must involve the
interest of his children. Children are to the father what crime
prevention is to be policeman; health is to the doctor, and what
learning is to the teacher. A full time father is one whose children
become a part of his way of life.
Job was that kind of a father. He is not only a great example of
faithfulness in suffering, but he is an ideal full time father. Often the
two go together-fatherhood and suffering. It often takes the patience
of Job to tolerate children. None of us can complain, however, in
comparison to Job. He had 7 boys and 3 girls. Full time fatherhood
does not mean we need to be literally having children all the time.
Ten was an ideal number in Job's day, but in our day it would be
considered extremism.
Job was not only famous he was also very rich. These are two
other ways we would have difficulty in imitating him. Job had none of
the problems that come from lack of resources. He represents a
father of the upper class, and so he had different problems than most
of us do. Job had need of nothing and so we can sympathize with his
ten children. It is hard enough to buy father's anything today, and so
I can't imagine what frustration it was back then. Being wealthy as
they were, however, it may not have been a problem. The reason it is
a problem today is that it is hard to find anything that is both nice
and cheap at the time. An unknown poet said it this way:
On Father's Day we honor dad
To give his heart a lift.
Tis just like Mother's Day, except
He gets a cheaper gift.
I suppose that an account of a modern Job would read, "And he
had 7000 ties and 3000 sport shirts." Before we look at what made
Job a full time father we want to clear up a popular misconception.
People usually think of Job, if they ever think of him at all, as an old
man. All the evidence, however, indicates that he was a fairly young
father. It is implied that all of his children are yet unmarried, and
there are no grandchildren mentioned. When the sufferings of Job
are over he is still youthful enough to beget another large family. The
book ends by telling us that he lived 140 years, saw his sons have sons,
and died an old man full of days. This clearly indicates he is young
father as we examine his example. There are two things Job did
which made him an ideal father. These two things all of us must do to
be good dads.
I. HE FACED THE REALISTIC FACTS OF LIFE.
The first fact Job faced up to squarely was that his children were
sinners. In verse 5 Job says, "It may be that my sons have sinned,
and cursed God in their hearts." Job was no blind indulgent father
who felt his boys were too good to every go wrong. He was a godly
man and provided them with everything, and if any kids could ever
grow up free of sin, it would be Job's kids. They had the ideal
environment, the ideal parents, and everything life could offer. But
Job was not so naïve as to think his kids were perfect. The father who
feels that his children are in no danger of going wrong is obviously a
part time father. He is a father who doesn't know human nature. A
wise father assumes that his children can go wrong.
Nothing is so pathetic as a parent who is blind to the sins of his
children. I have seen parents so blind that even when all the
neighbors and the police report to them that their boys are stealing
refuse to believe it, and accuse society of persecuting them. These
boys, of course, went from bad to worse. They lived like angels at
home, but demons at large. Mothers are as guilty as fathers, but
fathers ought to know better. A mother has never been a boy, and so
she has some excuse for her blindness, but every father has been a
boy, and so he has no excuse.
Job was a realist, and he knew the weakness of human nature and
the power of sin, and the result was that he was a better father. Only
those fathers who face up to the dangers their children will encounter
will be able to give wise and effective guidance. The father who
thinks his children will never go wrong will never bother to warn
them, or make provision for their restoration when they fall. We can
be thankful that God is no such father. Job was no foolish father.
Someone said, "Nearly every man is a firm believer in heredity until
his son makes a fool of himself." Job was wise enough to know that
the best of sons can make fools of themselves. He did not close his
eyes to it, nor was he determined to disown them if they did.
Job made provision for dealing with the problem of sin if it
should arise, and this is God-like fatherhood. In Job's age the father
was the priest of the home. There was no temple, no clergy and no
official religious organization. Dad was the priest, the preacher, and
the Sunday school teacher. The church and the home were one, and
no man could be a good father who was not also a man of God. If the
father failed to deal with sin, the children didn't have a chance. Time
has changed radically, but this principle never changes. Children
with a father who is a spiritual man, and one who helps them deal
with the issues of sin and forgiveness have the best chance in life of
experiencing God's best. We will look at this more clearly in a few
moments.
Job not only faced the realistic fact that his children could sin,
but also face the realistic fact that he had to risk letting them sin.
Every father must take the same risk that God took. As our heavenly
Father God risked the chance of sin. He had the power to prevent it,
and he could have forced Adam and Eve to do what was right. He has
the power to force all of us to do His will, but He is not that kind of a
Father. He is a Father who wants children who are righteous, who
love Him and obey Him by choice. If God cannot make us good by
force, then God forbid that we as earthly fathers think we can do so
with our children. Job had more power then all of us put together,
but he knew better. He knew that youth was a risky age of life, but
that a father has no alternative but to accept the risks. The father
who demands that his children live on an adult level and avoid the
foolish risks of youth is being unrealistic, and he is courting failure as
a father.
Youth are youth, and this does not mean that they must do all
kinds of terrible things, but it does mean they must have the freedom
to choose between folly and wisdom. Job may have thought all the
feasts his children were having were foolishness and totally
unnecessary. He knew they were a risk, and yet he did not forbid
them. Many in Job's shoes would have put an end to all that
nonsense. All kids every want to do is have fun. That is the complaint
of parents in all ages. Youth are fanatics for fun. The fact is,
however, that father's who fight it and who fail to recognize the need
for fun in youth will not have much fun in being a father. One of the
most foolish things we do as fathers is to demand that our children
stop acting like children. We are all guilty to some degree, but when
we become excessive in this demand we rightly deserve the poets
criticism.
What unjust judges fathers are, when in regard to us they hold
That even in our boyish days we ought in conduct to be old,
Nor taste at all the very thing that youth and only youth requires,
They rule us by their present wants, not by their past long-last
desires.
A realistic father like Job recognizes that he must take the risk
and let his children be children. Fun is not wrong, but it is a good
thing that can often lead to wrong. The only way to eliminate the risk
is to forbid what is not in itself wrong, but which can lead to it. Job
chose to let them have their parties and indulge in their fun, and risk
doing wrong. Not all fathers would dare take this risk in our world
today, for the dangers are greater than ever, but a father like Job can
always risk it because of the second thing he did, which we want to
examine. He faced the realistic facts of life and could take the risks
involved because-
II. HE FURNISHED A REALISTIC FAITH FOR LIFE.
Job knew he couldn't prevent his children from sinning, but he
could prevent them from wanting to. Faith is the answer, and not
force. God does not force us to give up sin. He gives us, instead, the
wisdom to see the superiority of righteousness. This is what Job did
for his children, and this makes any man a full time father, for no
man can prove to his children that godliness is the greatest unless he
is godly himself. A great father must be a godly father.
Job was a father who gave his children an example of what
godliness was. The very first verse tells us that he was blameless and
upright, and he was one who feared God and turned away from evil.
It is not only what you do but what you are that makes you a good
dad. Job was doing plenty for his children just by being the man of
God he was. A father does great disservice to his children when he
fails to become the best man he can be before God. That is why ideal
fatherhood is such a full time job. Everything you are and do affects
what you are as a father.
The more you become a man of God the better father you will be.
Many point out that even preacher's kids can go bad, and no one can
refute that. Preachers do a lot of stupid things in raising children. I
know two personally who had sons who committed suicide. Pastors
make all the same mistakes as everyone else. They are two strict or
too lenient. However, the fact is, that in Who's Who In America
there are more children who come from the homes of preachers than
any other profession. The statistics do not reveal all the failures, but
they do reveal that the majority of children raised in a home where
Christ is exalted, and His Word honored, become adults who are
strongly motivated to make their lives count for God and man.
You can give your children everything, but if you do no furnish
them with a realistic faith for life, as Job did for his children, you will
have deprived them of life's best gift. Job set before his children an
ideal example of godly living. That is what we mean by a realistic
faith. It is a faith that works and is not a mere matter of pious words.
Few things are more pathetic than a father who tries to force his children
to obey moral principles that he does not obey himself. Most
children will do what you do and not just what you say. I know of
fathers who are disgusted with their children because they lie, cheat,
smoke and swear. They are frustrated because they cannot beat it
out of them. The problem is that these boys admire their dad, and he
does all of these things, and even boasts of his clever lies and
deception. His children are only following his bad example. His
words are worthless, for they are unreal. What is real is what he
does. And unknown poet put it-
All in vain is splendid preaching,
And the noble things we say,
All our talk is wasted teaching
If we do not lead the way.
We can never, by reviewing
All the sermons on the shelves,
Keep the younger hands from doing
What we often do ourselves.
Any father who fails to live his faith just as well save his breath.
Children imitate what is, and not what ought to be. Children of bad
fathers can still find good examples of faith to follow, but every father
should want to be that ideal for his own children. A full time father is
one who is aware that all he is and all is becoming involves his
children, for what he is greatly influences them. Earl Rudisill in his
book For Fathers Only writes, "When children see their father
restrain himself in times of stress, respect their time and projects,
stand for the right, and take spiritual and moral principles seriously,
they are easily and unconsciously receiving inspiration and direction
of the greatest value."
The best thing any father can do for his children is to receive
Christ as his Savior. If he had done that, the next best thing he can do
is to yield to Christ as Lord of his life, and become the best Christian
the grace of God can make him. A part time Christian will only be a
part time father. A father who only dabbles at practicing his faith
will not furnish his children with a realistic faith. If dad is hit and
miss, and does not stress loyalty to Christ and the church by serving
and giving, you can count on it that the children will be the same. If
fathers will be faithful to God, as Job was, they will not only be better
men but better fathers, for as full time Christians they will also be full
time fathers.
