What is NOT a Father
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
Matthew 5:6-8
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse is:
Matthew 22:37-40
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Today we will be reading from Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Today is Father’s Day and Father’s Day causes somewhat of a conundrum for me. In many cases it is expected that there should be a sermon about being a good father on Father’s Day. But in our case we have only a few families with children or grandchildren at home and so a Biblical “seminar” on how to be a good father would only be applicable to a few in the congregation. So, I believe that such a teaching would better be left to a small gathering of those to whom the teaching would be applicable.
So, what should we talk about on Father’s Day? Well, one of the things we will be talking about is “WHAT” is not a good father. That may sound confusing to you right now but to confuse the matter even more, which I often do, let’s read a passage in the Old Testament about what a good father should do …
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read Deuteronomy 6:1-9
(Prayer for help)
Obviously, from reading this passage in Deuteronomy we know what a good father should do, right? A good father should be consumed with the Lord and with passing that passion for the Lord on to his children.
Just listen to this list of what a good father should do with the Word of the Lord …
Keep these commandments in your heart
Impress them on your children
Talk about them when you sit at home
Talk about them when you walk along the road
Talk about them when you lie down
Talk about them when you get up
Tie them as symbols on your hands
Bind them on your foreheads
Write them on the doorframes of your houses
Write them on your gates
And, of course, obey them yourself.
Everything that a child needs to carry him through life will flow from that. If a child grows up having a passionate relationship with God the Father he will follow the ways of the Lord in all he does.
Such a child will grow into an adult who will be a benefit not only to the kingdom of God but to all around him. And, such a person will also enjoy eternal life in the presence of the Holy Trinity.
That in a nut shell is the definition of a good father and the essence of what a good father would do to guide his children into living a righteous life.
So … WHAT is NOT a good father?
First of all let’s look at the educational system in America.
The educational system in America is NOT a good father.
If you expect the public educational system to be an adequate replacement for the duties of a father you would be gravely mistaken.
The educational system in America cannot be a good father because it is not a father at all and it never was intended by the Lord to be a father.
Sadly, many have relegated such upbringing to the educational system.
Now, listen carefully. I am NOT saying that all educators are taking children and teaching them ideas that will harden their hearts toward God. I am absolutely, positively NOT saying that in any sense whatsoever.
I thank God every day that we have truly born again Christians teaching in every level of our educational system. May the Lord bless them and may their numbers increase!
But, if we think for a moment that our children can go through thirteen years of the local school system without coming under the influence of multiple teachers who despise the Lord then we are, once again, gravely mistaken.
And, those teachers who despise the Lord and His church will do their very best to bend the children to their way of thinking and will, at the same time, attempt to keep the parents from finding this out.
I wonder … do the parents of the children who attend the Pioneer School system know if the book, “Heather Has Two Mommies” is being read to their kindergarten students?
One website boasted the following, “June is LGBTQ Pride Month, celebrated in classrooms and communities around the world. It's a great time to include LGBTQ themes and history into your curriculum, helping LGBTQ students feel safer and more affirmed.
And all your students will benefit from a better understanding of history and the groups within your community. So, start planning, be a visible ally and build empathy and understanding. For a few easy ways to celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month in your classroom, download the educator resource guide.”
Some of the companies who support the generation of this curriculum include, The Walt Disney Co., Target, Pet Smart, You Tube, Amazon, State Farm, Warner Media and CBS, just to name a few.
And it gets even worse in secular universities.
How are students to deal with such pressure if they do not have a home environment where the Word of God is taught and revered?
How are students to have the strength to withstand this onslaught if their father is spending all of his time at work with little left for his children? How are children to stand against such a demonic influence if their father has abandoned them and their mom is left to carry the full load? What can we do?
First, we can be aware of the situation. This awareness should cause the true Christian to fall on their knees in prayers of intercession and in prayers of asking for direction.
Have we ever attended a school board meeting?
How does the Holy Spirit intervene in a school board meeting?
Can we just pray that the Holy Spirit would invade a school board meeting and influence people?
I suppose we could if we were unable to attend but how does the Holy Spirit usually work?
The Holy Spirit enters a room when His people who are filled with Him enter the room. And, this happens whether they are on the school board or just attending.
The Lord doesn’t call us to pray about something and then just sit home watching reruns of Mash, Gunsmoke or Wheel of Fortune!
When we do prayerfully attend a school board meeting we can be a presence for the Lord, especially in cases where there is no father to be the spiritual leader in a home.
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Now, a father might say, “I don’t need to teach my children about Jesus; that’s why I take them to church and Sunday School almost every Sunday!
Can the church replace a father?
First of all, I thank God for Sunday School teachers. I remember Lottie Strong and Sarah Elam and later Elwin and Marilyn Berg and others who taught Sunday School, literally, for decades on end.
They never complained. They never acted like it was a burden. They loved Jesus. They loved the kids.
They loved telling the kids they loved about the Jesus they loved. They never asked for time off and the only time they wanted to be replaced was when they became so weak with age that they could no longer teach.
They were wonderful but they could not be a father who was there teaching and modeling a life pleasing to God day after day.
And, as we all know, churches are not immune to the influence of the world either.
As anyone who follows Christianity in America knows that there is a push by many to make the church more palatable to the world. And, the same issue that is invading our schools is invading the church as well.
For instance, a pastor in the second largest denomination in the United States recently put the following message on their church sign, “Jesus had two fathers and He turned out OK.”
Later the pastor claimed that he had no idea how the quote could be misunderstood in the way that we would all naturally understand it.
In another instance, a classmate of mine from High School was once a Sunday School teacher at his church and I remember him wondering about how to explain to the children in his class why Christianity was different or better than Islam or the Hindu religion.
These things, of course, boggle the minds of those who know Christ and His saving love for us.
And, yet, the church is NOT a father. And, while it is certainly much better in most cases than a secular school system, it was never intended to be a replacement for the influence of a godly father.
So, on Father’s Day, what can we do for those who have no father?
Pray. We can pray for the Mom’s who are raising children without a father in the home.
We can pray for the children who have no Dad in the home.
When these Mom’s come to church we can let them know we are praying for them.
When these Fatherless children come to church we can recognize that they exist instead of just walking past them. We can take the time to stop and talk to them, ask how their week went and ask if they need prayer for any situation.
The birthdays of these Moms and children are listed on our monthly church calendars. We could send them a card with a note of encouragement.
Ladies, you could call a single Mom and ask how she is doing and then listen to her and pray for her.
They may not have the dad in the home but we can intercede for them and encourage them.
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What about what we see on the TV and internet?
Can they be a father to those who have no Dad in the home to lead them to Christ? No!
Have you ever listened to talk show hosts who have pastors come on for interviews? Most of the time they have one of two questions; is homosexuality a sin or is Jesus the only way to eternal life.
When it comes to sexuality they usually invite a, “Neither do I condemn you …” pastor. These pastors always seem to quote the first half of the verse but then they stop short of ending the verse where Jesus tells the woman caught in adultery, “… now go and stop your sinning.”
When they do this it gives the impression that Jesus is OK with whatever you do with your body as long as it is done in love.
That’s not exactly what a godly father in the home would be telling his children.
When it comes to Jesus being the only way to eternal life the invited pastor will usually hem and haw and they may even quote that Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life …” but they stop short of saying, “… no one can come to the Father except through Me.”
And, what about what you see in commercials?
Do they ever show a Christian worship service?
If they ever do show anything related to religion, what is it?
Yoga. It’s always yoga. It has become so common that some churches even hold yoga classes, after all, it’s just stretching isn’t it?
What is yoga really? Yoga is Sanskrit for "yoking" or "union", is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six orthodox philosophical schools of Hinduism. There are a broad variety of yoga schools, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism and there are four paths or types of yoga: Karma yoga, Kriya yoga, Bhakti yoga, and Jnana yoga.
What do you think Jesus thinks when He sees you participating in a Hindu or Buddhist worship practice? Probably not thrilled.
The Lord in His Word has ordained the father to be the spiritual head of the house. And a godly father in the house would certainly tell his children that if they need to do stretching exercise there are many ways to do so without engaging in a pagan religion.
Now, we could go on and on as to how the world is trying to tear our children away from the Way, the Truth and the Life but we need to realize that one of their main attacks is through the destruction of the traditional family. And this destruction will almost inevitably result in the role of the father being cast aside.
How is this happening?
With disposable relationships.
Let’s just live together. Marriage is just a piece of paper.
We’re committed, aren’t we?
This sort of thinking rarely results in a stable relationship and certainly prevents the father from being a spiritual leader in the home. And, if there is no spiritual leader in the home the world will take its place.
There is a saying, “nature abhors a vacuum.”
And the devil certainly desires to see the vacuum of a family with no father. And when he see that he will rush in to fill that vacuum with what will only lead to eternal death and damnation.
Can a mother raise godly children by herself? Yes, she can.
Is it God’s plan for the family? No it isn’t.
Let’s finish by saying this, we, as ardent followers of Jesus Christ are tasked with praying for others.
When we see a family with no father in the picture or when we see a family with an unsaved father we certainly need to turn up the heat in our praying!
If you do not realize that our country is in a moral death spiral you must be either spiritually asleep or have your head stuck in the sand like an ostrich.
Let me give you just one more example of the pure insanity of our current culture.
In the 2022 national budget presented by President Biden the word “Mothers” has been replaced with “birthing persons”.
BIRTHING PERSONS!!!
Does that make fathers non-birthing persons?
Is this REALLY NON-BIRTHING PERSONS DAY????
GOD, PLEASE SAVE US FROM OURSELVES!!!!!!!!!!
Final thoughts and closing prayer.
Happy Father’s day!
