Duct Tape Lessons for Dads
1 Tim. 3:2-6
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Dennis the Menace sometimes lived up to his name. One day he was over at the Wilson’s house (neighbors) eating cookies and milk. Mrs. Wilson was in the kitchen washing the dishes.
2. Dennis asked Mr. Wilson why he never went to work and he explained he is retired. Dennis said, “Retired? Is that why you loaf all the time?” Wilson answered, Well I worked so hard for so many years that I earned the right to loaf.”
3. Dennis asked why Mrs. Wilson hasn’t retired. Mr. Wilson responded, “She can’t retire because she never worked.” But Dennis said he’d always seen Mrs. Wilson cooking, washing and cleaning. Didn’t that count?
4. “That’s different,” said Mr. Wilson, “She’s a housewife; if she retired, who’d do the housework?” Dennis said, “Couldn’t YOU help?” “Dennis! Are you trying to cause trouble?!” Mrs. Wilson says, “Stop yelling at Dennis! He’s right and you know it!”
5. In the next frame, Dennis walks up to his mother in the garden. She asks, “What are the Wilson’s arguing about?” Dennis answers, “I don’t know. I came home ‘cause I didn’t want to get involved!”
B. TEXT
2Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.
C. FATHER’S DAY & DUCT TAPE
1. Today is a great day for men - Father’s Day. Jesus would often use objects to get His truth into the hearts and minds of people, so they would remember it easily for long time and get the point. Fish, nets, fishing, bread, water, rivers, trees, fruit, vineyards, wooden board/pole, shepherd/sheep, etc.
2. So today we take an object - duct tape, something we guys use a lot - and see what truths God tells us as dads to live by. You can do almost anything with one of the greatest things in life ever created - besides post-its - is duct tape.
3. 5 DUCT TAPE LESSONS FOR BEING A GREAT DAD:
I. STICK TO THE MAIN THING
A. WHY DUCT TAPE WAS MADE
1. "The original olive-drab version of the tape was developed during World War II for a specific purpose: The military needed a tough, waterproof adhesive tape to seal ammunition cases and other containers.
2. At Johnson & Johnson, a research team came up with a strip of cotton-mesh cloth coated with a polyurethane sealant on one side (making it waterproof and allowing the tape to be peeled off the roll) and a rubber-based adhesive on the other.
3. Military tradition says it was called “duck” tape, either because water rolled off it or because of the layer of cotton “duck” cloth that formed its base. But whatever its name, it did its job: it stuck and held to whatever it was taped to.
B. DAD – STICK TO THE MAIN THING!
1. Dads also have been designed for a purpose: we’re supposed to stick so closely to Jesus that our words, behavior, and lives are conducted after the pattern He set.
2. Paul told Timothy to be an “example,” a visible representation of what Christ is to an unbelieving world. If what we have is real, it ought to show. The world is crying to see reality. You are probably the only Jesus/Bible those around you will ever see! “We are epistles, known and read of all men” 2 Cor. 3:2. We can’t lay it off on someone else to be a Christian; the responsibility falls on us, especially as heads of our families!
3. It’s a terrible thought, but people will judge Christ by us. If we sin, it will demonstrate to those around us that Christ isn’t real or worth serving! The owner of a hotel chain regularly tells her employees, “Remember, my reputation is in your hands!” There are so many hypocrites, people who lead double lives. Let’s not be one of them.
4. LIVING WITH JESUS. A woman was born again and
dramatically changed through Jesus Christ. Her husband was a godless man and she had been just like him until now that she had found Christ.
This husband and wife continued on for several weeks in their regular routine until finally one morning before he went to work, he said, "Do you know, woman, that I have been living and sleeping and eating with Jesus Christ for the last two weeks?"
She was keen-minded woman, and she said, "How do you enjoy it?" Tears filled his eyes. He said, "I wish I was like that. I wish I had that something that has come into your life."
5. We have one assignment and that is to be the greatest husband, father, citizen, businessman, church member we can in Jesus Christ. The more He reigns in our lives, the better person we will be. “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” Phip. 3:14
II. BE STRONG BUT FLEXIBLE
A. AMAZING VERSATILITY: DUCT TAPE
1. What made duck tape unique was its combination of a strong pressure-sensitive adhesive with a backing that could be torn by hand. Among countless applications, soldiers used it to mend boots, patch holes in tents, and strap equipment to jeeps and tanks.
2. During the postwar housing boom ex-GIs found that duck tape was handy for sealing joints and insulation on ventilation and air-conditioning ducts. Marketers altered its color to the familiar silvery gray and was rechristened “duct” tape. Whether “duck” tape, or “duct” tape, its key characteristics remain strength and flexibility.
B. DAD: BE STRONG BUT FLEXIBLE
1. Paul’s directions to Dads in the N.T. indicate they had strength but needed more flexibility: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” Eph. 6:4. “Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged” Colossians 3:21.
2. To “exasperate” means to “make very angry or impatient; to annoy greatly.” Hey! How many of us have been “annoyed” by our parents? But this is stated in juxtaposition to “the training and instruction of the Lord.” So Paul is either speaking of being overbearing as a parent or not being a consistent Christian in front of them.
3. Paul said, “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” 2 Timothy 2:24-26 (NKJV).
4. Do your kids & wife see you as a source of strength? Are you strong yet flexible to do the wisest thing under a shifting set o circumstances? Do you keep major and minor issues separate or do you have them mixed?
5. Do you show self-control, even when you are stressed or angry? Do you have the safe outlets in place to release your anger?
6. Do you refuse to change just in order to prove a point? Or are you confident and secure enough in yourself that you can be flexible in areas where flexibility is called for?
III. HOLDS THINGS TOGETHER
A. DUCT TAPE IS FAMOUS FOR THIS
1. One celebrated story of duct tape’s holding power is when the Apollo 13 space capsule was crippled in space, the astronauts used duct tape to improvise a lifesaving carbon dioxide filter. Since then, duct tape has been standard equipment on the space shuttle and the International Space Station.
2. Another time, mechanics used duct tape to temporarily patch a small hole in the windshield of a passenger jet. Makes you feel good to know when you’re at 30,000 feet that your plane is held together by duct tape!
B. DAD’S HOLD THINGS TOGETHER TOO!
1. We dads are supposed to holds things together too. God has you as the leader in holding the fabric of your family together. Paul said a man “must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect” 1 Tim. 3:4
2. In this respect we’re supposed to be like Jesus; “17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” Col. 1:17. Jesus could almost be said to be the duct tape of the universe, because He holds it all together!
3. You be the dad that pleases God, even in your imperfections.
IV. DON’T GET EXPOSED TO THE WRONG ELEMENTS
A. BAD PLACES FOR DUCT TAPE
1. Believe it or not, there are places/ environments that make duct tape ineffective to do its job. Duct tape works best in hot, moist weather. Only if it gets very hot does the adhesive begin to melt.
2. But I’ve seen duct tape fail in dusty places where the adhesive became covered with a film of dust and was no longer sticky. Duct tape also fails in very cold temperatures. The glue freezes solid and won’t stick. If it receives a blow, the seal will break and it will come unstuck.
B. DADS IN WRONG PLACES
1. Dads too will fail if we get in the wrong environments. We must stay in a community of men who believe like we do. We can’t compromise our convictions. If we expose ourselves to the wrong elements, they will break down our integrity, reputation, our character, our walk with Christ, and our relationship to your wife & kids.
2. You can’t afford the high price of sin. It won’t just cost you but everyone around you. Whatever it is, it’s not worth it.
V. NOT THE PERMANENT SOLUTION
A. DUCT TAPE ISN’T PERMANENT
1. There’s a lot of people who fly by the seat of their pants, who operate more by crisis than by planning. These “hill-billy” types think that once the duct tape is wrapped around the engine or the axle, it will be good for eternity. They have a surprise in store for them.
2. Duct tape, for all its marvelous uses, is not a permanent solution. Eventually you WILL have to fix the problem RIGHT!
B. EVEN DADS HAVE LIMITATIONS
1. We men are limited; we cannot be everything to everyone. We have to realize our limitations of time and attention, and let God and others help us in our journey.
2. We want to fix things; we want everything to turn out right, but things don’t always go according to plan. When we can’t fixed it all, we often feel we are a failure. If we fulfill faithfully what we’re called to do, then we’re a success. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” That means that God’s expectations of us won’t be more than we can handle and are the only ones we need to worry about fulfilling. Don’t add to what He has given. So relax. Chill.
3. The only true solution to everything is God, and His grace is sufficient for you. He is your provider, your guide, your friend, and is working all things together for the good! He’s the Permanent Solution!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: DECISION IS URGENT
1. David Brainerd, the great missionary to the American Indians, was on one occasion witnessing to a chief, who was very close to deciding for Christ. But he held back; there was some pause or hesitation.
2. Brainerd got up, took a stick, drew a circle in the soft earth about the chief, and said, "Decide before you cross that line." Why this passion and urgency? Because Brainerd recognized that at that moment, that chief was close to God. If he missed that moment, he might never be so close again. [Bruce Thielemann, "Tide Riding," Preaching Today]
3. It’s the same with us; if we don’t act when the Holy Spirit is moving on our hearts, we’ll probably never move. Now is the moment to obey God; to delay is dangerous.
B. ALTAR CALL
1. Dads – How about a new dedication to God this morning?
2. Today is not Mother’s Day or Grandparents Day, the focus of the day is on us. What are we going to do? Why don’t we take the positive step of coming forward and pledging to make new efforts to be a godly husband, father, grandfather or man for God?
3. Come on forward. Prayer of dedication.
[This is a rewrite of Walter Swaim’s message of the same title]
