A woman was preparing to cash her husband’s paycheck when she realized her husband, hadn't signed it. So, she sent 4-year-old daughter upstairs to “get Daddy's name on the back of it.” Her daughter came back downstairs and proudly handed the check to her mom She said, “I knew his name, so I did it myself.” And on the back of the check, the little girl had printed, “D-A-D.”
Today is Father’s Day and our sermon is focused on dads. And most importantly it’s focused on the “FAITH OF OUR FATHERS”. Our text today has an interesting comment by God. Speaking to Moses at the burning bush God declared “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Exodus 3:6
God was declaring that HIS relationship to the Israelites was based upon THE FAITH OF THE FATHERS – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
There’s an old camp song that kids used to love. If you don’t know the song, I’m going to teach it to you today: “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham. And I am one of them, and so are you. So let’s all praise the Lord - RIGHT ARM”
“Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham, and I am one of them, and so are you. So let’s all praise the Lord - RIGHT ARM – LEFT ARM”
And they’d go on and on like that - Right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg, nod your head, turn around, sit down. And by the time they were done, the kids were all laughing and pretty much worn out. It was a great song… and the kids loved it. But more than that… it’s a Biblical song.
Romans 4:11 tells us “(Before Abraham) received the sign of circumcision, (he received) a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be THE FATHER OF ALL THOSE WHO BELIEVE…” So Romans teaches us that if we BELIEVE IN JESUS - Abraham is OUR father. Abraham is the father of ALL THOSE who have faith in Christ.
But wait a minute? Jesus said GOD is my Father, He’s my heavenly Father. And God is WAYYYY more important and valuable… than Abraham is. So, what is this about Abraham being my FATHER? Well, Romans is basically saying that Abraham is a “father figure to us”. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians: 1 Corinthians 4:15 he told them “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Paul was saying that he’d became their FATHER (their father figure) as an example of how to live like a Christian.
ILLUS: In every church I’ve served, there have been men who have been Father figures. I looked up to them; I trusted them; I relied on their advice and guidance. They were FATHERS (if you will) to me. In the same way Abraham is our Father figure as Christians. We should look to him to see what faith looks like.
Now, what’s interesting in our passage in Exodus - God expands on that. He doesn’t just say He is the God of Israel’s father Abraham… but also of their fathers Isaac and Jacob. Those 3 names – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – show up together 33 times in Scripture.
• At the END of his life Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Genesis 50:24
• Just before the Israelites are to enter the Promised Land, Moses said “See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob...” Deuteronomy 1:8
• II Kings 13 declares that “the LORD was gracious to (God’s people) and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...” 2 Kings 13:23
• And in Acts 3:13 Peter declared “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.”
It’s like God was saying – “Remember These Names”! They are important! Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God was the God of these men, and these 3 men were the FATHERS (the Father figures) of God’s people.
So, the question is: WHY do their names show up together 33 times in Scripture? What was it about these 3 men that God wanted us to see? Why are they held up for us as FATHER FIGURES?
Well, here are my thoughts on this: First – I believe God grouped these 3 men together to show us how we ought to LIVE by faith. Granted, Abraham gets top billing, and Abraham is THE example of living by faith, but all 3 of these men were men of faith. God interacted with each one of them. God made promises to each one of them. And we’re told HE WAS THEIR GOD!
Like I said Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all men of faith…but they lived out their faith in distinctly different ways.
• Abraham (for example) was a man with an aggressive faith. A Visionary. Hebrews 11:8-10 tells us "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”
God said “GO” and Abraham packed up his family and WENT, even though he didn’t know where he was going. But he went because he had faith in God’s promises.
And (this is neat) everywhere he went, he built something. Do you know the 1st thing Abraham built when he got to the promised land? He built an altar. And (after that) everywhere he pitched his tent, he built other altars. He built those altars because he wanted to worship God wherever He lived, and altars were Abraham’s way of LIVING his faith.
• Now Isaac… well, he built an altar too - but he seems to have been a little more laid back than Abraham was. He’s not aggressive in his faith… he’s not visionary. Isaac was kind of satisfied with life just the way it is. He didn’t really GO anywhere, and he didn’t really DO anything. He just pitched his tent, loved his wife and raised sheep.
But Isaac’s faith was STILL a thing to admire because he believed in a God who listened to prayer and did stuff. In Genesis 25:21 “Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.” Isaac believed in prayer and he believed in a God who answered prayer. ISAAC WAS A MAN WHO LIVED HIS FAITH
• Then… there’s Jacob - Jacob was different. JACOB built a couple of altars, but Jacob was more into Pillars. He erected pillars to remember things God had done. There was nothing wrong with pillars… that was an act of faith. But Jacob had… a character flaw. He took advantage of people. He manipulated folks… and he even tried to manipulate God. In Genesis 28:20-22 Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, THEN the LORD shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”
Jacob tells God: IF you’ll do what I ask THEN you’ll be my God, and THEN I’ll give you a tenth of my income. Basically Jacob tried bargaining with God. And God let’s him get away with it... WHY?
God let him get away with this because even though Jacob tried to CONTROL God, it was still an act of faith. Jacob believed that God was there, and he believed God had the power to do things in his life. And even though Jacob tried to control God, GOD ENDED UP CONTROLLING HIM!
Now, any Bible student will tell you that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had flaws. THEY ALL DID! But God worked with them. He worked with the faith that these men had and (in time) He turned their lives around and He became the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Now the question is this: Which FATHER FIGURE do you seek to be?
Are you like Jacob – do you believe God is there but you still have your own agenda in life? You want what you want … but not necessarily what God wants. And you believe that God can help you get what you want. This is NOT the best level of faith… it’s kind of entry level kind of faith. But that kind of faith is a start. God can work with that.
And then, there’s Isaac - are you like Isaac? Isaac was a good man. He took care of his family; and he took care of business. And Isaac’s faith led him to be a man of prayer. IS THAT YOU? But as important as it was to be a man of prayer... Isaac didn't really DO anything, and that's kind of disappointing.
Or are you like Abraham? Are you aggressive in your faith? Do you actively try to be God’s man and do God’s things? Abraham got top billing of these 3 men… because Abraham was THE example of how to live by faith. This is the guy you MOST want to be like.
But God can work with anybody, as long as they have some kind of faith. And these 3 men (Abraham/Isaac/Jacob) all lived a life that reflected at least SOME KIND of faith.
CLOSE: Men, you are called to be father figures to your families-and others. If you’re a man of any kind of faith… God is looking for you. But God probably won’t want to leave you the way you are. Like Abraham/Isaac/Jacob God will begin to make changes in your life.
As an example of that, let me tell you the story of my dad. Dad wasn’t a great man of faith… but he did have faith, but it was a very tenuous faith. He knew God was there… and God could do things. But God was kind of “over there” and DAD… was kind of “over here.” But Dad’s faith got him to go to church, and one day while dad was in church… something happened. God got hold of dad, and changed him. I don’t know if it was something said in a prayer that day, or one of the hymns they sang, or something in the sermon (mom didn’t know), but dad went forward at the invitation. On the way home from church, dad stopped the car by the side of the road and he began to weep uncontrollably. Mom said, from that day on she never heard him say another curse word and he stopped drinking beer. And dad began to take his faith in God seriously. And he was never the same again.
CLOSE: I want to close by sharing something I stumbled upon while searching for the phrase “the God of”, hoping to find other places where God said He was the God of someone other than Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I found that God was said to be the God of David, Hezekiah and Elijah… but then I saw something that was unique.
Micah 7:7 which says “I will look to the LORD; I will wait for THE GOD OF MY SALVATION; My God will hear me.”
God wasn’t just the God of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… He is MY GOD. He is the God of MY SALVATION. And that should be our objective as Christians. We should want to get to the point that our faith is not that of our fathers or grandfathers, or mothers or grandmothers – He wants to be your God, and my God. He wants to be our personal savior. God wants you to get to the point where your faith is YOUR FAITH, not someone elses.
INVITATION: That’s why we give an invitation at the end of every service. We challenge men (and women) to make a decision to make a personal decision to believe in Jesus, to repent of their sins and to allow themselves to be buried in the waters of Christian baptism and to rise from the waters of baptism to walk in newness of life.
FOOT NOTE: We’re told that God was the “God of David” (II Kings 20:5) several times, and the God of Hezekiah (II Chronicles 32:17), and the God of Elijah (II Kings 2:14) – a God of individual people. But there seems to be something distinctive about this phrase of God being the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and thus is the basis of this sermon.
