Father’s Day
Ephesians 6:1-3, "1Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."
A first-grade teacher asks her class what Father's Day was. One boy answered, "Father’s Day is just like Mother’s Day, only you don’t spend as much on the gift." Another boy responded, "What gift?" Mark Twain said, "When I was a boy of 14 my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to the 21, I was astonished at how much the old man learned in 7 years."
You all have heard a story like this: "Now that my father is a grandfather, he just can’t wait to give money to my kids. But when I was a kid and I asked him for 50 cents, he would tell me how when he was 7 years old, he got up at 4:30 in the morning to milk 90 cows with his tiny hands. He then walked 12 miles to school and so on. But now, every time he comes to my house, he tells my children, “Well, let’s see how much money old Granddad has for his wonderful grandkids."
I found an article entitled, "The World According to Dad." It lists the kinds of things dads often say.
- Why should you do that? Because I said so, that's why.
- Do you want me to call your mother?
- Wait till you have kids of your own. I hope one will be just like you.
- Last Father's Day, my son gave me something I always wanted: the keys to my car.
- The article makes some children’s observations. One reads, that if a mother is laughing at the father's jokes, it means we have guests.
Being a father can be a wonderful, interesting, and sometimes a trying experience. We are here today to remember what the Lord says about our earthly fathers and to honor them. I want us to think about some of the things for which we should say, "Thanks, Dads."
1- for material provision, Thanks Dad.
2- for faithful instruction, Thanks Dad.
3- for godly illustration, Thanks Dad.
Thanks for the provisions: I Tim. 5:8, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." That is powerful. Families are families because they can depend on one another for help at any time or with any need. Today, we are specifically concentrating on the father’s duties. If a father does not provide materially for his family (food, clothing, shelter) then he has denied the faith of Christ and is worse than unbelievers. Why would such a father be worse than unbelievers would; because; even unbelievers provide for their families.
My dad passed away in May 1979. He only lived to be 59. Were he alive today he would be almost 106 years old. He grew up during the Depression. They had a roof over their head and enough to eat but not much more. He joined the Army in June of 1939 and came out in the summer of 1952. He went to school on the GI Bill and worked long hours trying to give us some of the things he never had. Our house was certainly nothing fancy but he made it our home. He raised his children to be hard-working, patriotic, and devoted Christians.
Did my father provide for me; I honestly do not remember missing out on anything. What about your dad? Did he provide for you? He probably did and you need to thank him for it if he is still alive or, at least, give thanks to God that he did.
Fathers instruct their children about many things thus giving children a set of values. My dad used to say to me, "You can accomplish anything you set your mind to." He would say, "Don’t be afraid to ask questions in school. You’ll never learn anything if you don’t ask questions." He said, "I don’t care if everybody’s doing it; if other kids stick their heads in a fire, would you do that?"
Fathers have given all kinds of instruction to their children about such things as school, work, relationships, dating, driving a car, and so forth. After his father passed away, a friend said, "More memorable than my household responsibilities were the endless streams of ’corrections’ which came my way. My father never stopped correcting me. Just a short while before he died, he looked at me from his hospital bed and said, ’Why don’t you get rid of that fat belly?’"
A man named Jim Burton said these words about being a father. "When I was young, baseball was my life. You can imagine the excitement I felt when my oldest son began playing. This game would be one of our main bonding mechanisms. I taught him how to read a curve ball, shift his body weight with the swing, steal bases, turn double plays--these things separate the amateurs from the pros." Are you a coach or a critic?
From the New International Version Ephesians 6:4 reads, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." From the Common English Version, Ephesians 6:4 reads, "Parents, don’t be hard on your children. Raise them properly. Teach them and instruct them about the Lord." From the Living Bible, "Don’t keep on scolding and nagging your children, making them angry and resentful. Rather, bring them up with the loving discipline the Lord himself approves."
Here is the sad confession of one father. "I took my children to school but not to church. I taught them to drink but not of the living water. I enrolled them in Little League but not Sunday school. I showed them how to fish but not to be fishers of men. I made the Lord’s Day a holiday, rather than a holy day. I taught them the church was full of hypocrites and made the greater hypocrite of them and me. I gave them a color TV but provided no Bible. I handed them the keys to the car but did not give them the keys to the kingdom of God. I taught them how to make a living but failed to bring them to Christ who alone can make a life."
My wife heard this story on television. A major greeting card company wanted to help at a prison and so, just before Mother's Day, they placed a rack of Mother's Day cards in the prison lunchroom. The cards were free. The cards went so quickly that the company had to refill the rack. The company was pleased and so when Father's Day came, they did the same thing. This time, the inmates left the rack nearly full. Fathers, your presence in the family is important.
You need to thank your father for the faithful instruction he gave you in life, and for all the good advice, especially if that instruction included the Lord.
1- Dads, thanks for material provision
2- Dads, thanks for faithful instruction
Thanks for the godly illustrations. I Cor. 11:1 Paul said to the Corinthians who were his children in the faith, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” Please notice that Paul did not say, "Do everything I do." He said, "Do everything I do which is Christ-like." Follow the example of Christ. Paul was not perfect, and neither are we.
There are things that I have done in life that I do not want my children to do. I have also done some good things, some godly things, and some Christ-like things, which I hope they will copy from my life. The most important is loving people. Because I am not perfect and make many mistakes, I often say to my wife, children, and grandchildren, I love you. I tell them how beautiful they are.
A preacher told a story of his youth. He said, "Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between the ticket counter and us. This family made a big impression on me. There were eight children, all probably under the age of twelve. Their well-worn clothes indicated that they did not have a lot of money, but their clothes were spotless and pressed perfectly. Well-behaved, they were standing in line behind their parents holding hands two-by-two. They were excitedly jabbering about the clowns, elephants, and other acts they would see that night. One could sense they had never been to a circus before. It promised to be a highlight of their young lives. The father and mother were at the head of the pack standing proud as could be with the mother holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him as if to say, ’You’re my knight in shining armor.’ He was smiling and basking in pride, looking at her. The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly said, ’Please, I need eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.’ The ticket lady quoted the price. The man’s wife let go of his hand, her head dropped and the man’s lip began to quiver. The father leaned closer and asked, ’How much did you say?’ The ticket lady again quoted the price. The man did not have enough money. How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight kids that he did not have enough money to take them to the circus? Seeing what was happening, my dad put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill, and dropped it on the ground. We were not wealthy in any sense of the word, but my father reached down, picked up the bill, tapped the man on the shoulder, and said, ’Excuse me. This fell out of your pocket.’ The man sensed what was going on. While not begging for a handout, he certainly appreciated the help in a desperate, heartbreaking, embarrassing situation. He looked straight into my dad’s eye, took my dad’s hand in both of his, squeezed tightly onto the $20 bill, and with quivering lips and a tear streaming down his cheek, replied, ’Thank you, thank you. This means a lot to my family.’" The man telling the story about his father said, "My father and I went back to our car and drove home. We did not go to the circus that night, but we did not go without." What a father that man was. What a godly illustration of Christ. Thank God for all fathers who have been godly illustrations, and godly examples to follow.
I close with the fifth Commandment: “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” This is the only Commandment with a promise, “that thy days may be long upon the land”, that is your nation’s long-term existence is dependent on honoring our parents. Of all our duties to one another, the first and most fundamental is our duty towards our parents. That lies at the root of all our social relations and is the first relationship of which we naturally become conscious. Honor, reverence, and obedience are due to parents from the position in which they stand to their children: (1) As, in a certain sense, the authors of their being; (2) as their shelterers and nourishers; (3) as their protectors and educators, from whom they derive the foundation of their moral training and the first elements of their knowledge. Even among savages, the obligations of children towards their parents are great. Indeed, there has never been a civilized community whose moral code and whose duties to parents were not an important part. This Divine legislation is in full accord with the voice of reason and conscience, and affirming broadly the principles of parental. Father’s Day is when we celebrate the part you fathers play in your family and our society. Honor your father. Today, we thank you for fathers.
I have heard other heartwarming stories about fathers. The man said, "When I was a teenager, Dad would come in my room and say, ’C’mon, kid, let’s go.’ ’Where to?’ ’Lucy’s.’” Once a month, Dad would visit Lucy Jones, a woman whose body was twisted and pinned into a wheelchair by arthritis. He would reach his big arms around her frail body, lift her out of the wheelchair, and place her in the front seat of our station wagon. Then he would fold the wheelchair, throw it back, and drive Lucy to the monthly Communion service for shut ins. Later, while in the hospital, trying to recover from a massive heart attack, Dad found out that a family down the street did not have enough money to buy groceries. So, he wrote them a check. It was the last check that he ever wrote, the last lesson he taught me, for he died a few days later. What a great illustration of a Christ-like father."
