The Duties of a Godly Father
June 15, Father’s Day, 2025
Being a father is a wonderful thing. We all have an earthly father, and although many of them have gone from this life, we still honor them in our hearts today, and we will see them again in the resurrection. Along with our natural father, we are all children of one Great Spiritual Father, our Father in Heaven, who has created us in His own image and placed us on the earth so that we could learn what He already knows. God our Father, through Jesus Christ, provides the perfect example for every father, and it is our duty to strive as much as is within us to be like Jesus.
Fathers are put on this earth with a purpose. God never intended for any father to be a couch potato who cares little for his children and chooses not to provide for his family. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy 5:8 that, “if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” How can you get any worse than an apostate Christian or an unbelieving Heathen? That which makes it worse is the fact that those who are of such will stand before the Righteous and Perfect Father in Heaven and be judged and punished for their neglect of their family and children. Too late, they will realize how terrible their lives have been when they experience the neglect of their Heavenly Father while in the pits of hell.
God gave instructions to Adam in the Garden, and as the father of all natural men, those instructions are passed on to us, and we are commanded to tend to the great creation that is all around us, to be priest of our own household and family; to be the faithful husband of one wife; and to be the provider for the family.
All of that means a lot of work and effort because in the fallen creation where we dwell, we are ever struggling against the Great Adversary, Satan, whose purpose is to steal everything from us of any value, to kill the hope that is within us of creating a life worth living, and then to destroy our relationship with our own Father in Heaven, and in so doing, destroy every relationship we may have in our family, including our spouse and our own children.
The greatest target of Satan in our world today is our children. The devil knows that if he can win just one generation of our kids away from serving God, then he can destroy God’s design for the family and can turn the hearts of men to worship him as their father; denying the Fatherhood of God. That has been Satan’s design from the dawn of Creation. He hates God, and he hates everything that God loves, especially mankind, who is created in God’s own image.
We are thankful for those of you among us today who are fathers, having brought children into this world. We applaud you for taking on the great responsibilities that God designed for every father, and we pray that you will be able to accomplish God’s plan for your life and the lives of your family.
There are many families in our society today that are not fully following the design that God had in store when he brought Eve to Adam and told them to multiply and replenish the earth. Sometimes life throws a curve ball at us and we have to make choices and make changes that were never intended for families, yet here we are.
So however your family is put together, be thankful for the family you have and then make your decision to make the best of it and be the father of your family; and in some cases, be the leader of your family as the acting father because of your circumstances that are forced upon you.
There is a father in the Bible that I want to use as an example to help all of us who are fathers to know that the things we face, and the trials and tests that come our way, are nothing new. We have to learn through the example of another father’s trials and tests, that our Father in Heaven is always Faithful, always near, always aware of our troubles, always watching over us, always teaching, leading and guiding us, and has plans for our ultimate success in spite of the trials.
Long ago, sometime around 2000 BCE, at about the same time that God called Abraham to step out by faith and follow him, the Bible also identifies another man whose name was Job. Job’s story is found in the Bible in the book that carries his name, the Book of Job, which is considered to be the oldest book in the Bible even though it isn’t placed chronologically as the first book.
The Greek version of the Old Testament was translated from the original Hebrew at the request of Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt in around 325 BCE. 70 Jewish scholars worked to do the translation and it was completed around 100 BC and when Jesus would quote from the scriptures during his earthly ministry, he would often quote from that translation known as the Septuagint. The Septuagint confirms that there really was a man named Job and not a fictitious character and proves to us that Job’s story is true.
It is believed that Job had lived for about 70 years when his trials began. By that time he had 10 children; 7 sons and 3 daughters, and Job took being a father to those children very seriously.
The Bible has a lot of good things to say about Job. Job 1:1 begins by saying, “THERE WAS a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who [reverently] feared God and abstained from and shunned evil [because it was wrong].” AMP
In Job 1:8 God had good things to say about Job, “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth (hates and stays away from) evil?
Job knew that he had a responsibility to provide for his family and he became a very wealthy man trying to fulfill that duty. Job 1:3 tells us about all that Job owned. “His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.”
Job had more camels to carry his goods to market than anyone around. He had enough donkeys for everybody to ride. Job had enough oxen to plow his fields and pull his carts full of produce. There were enough sheep to provide all the wool and meat he needed and more. And he had more servants and workers than anyone else around. He was known for his wealth all over the known world. God had blessed Job for his faithfulness, but there was a lot more that Job did to take care of his family than just provide for their physical wants and needs..
He also took the duties of being the priest of his household very seriously. His children were always in his heart and mind. He always did his best to cover them in prayer and to teach them the ways of righteousness, but sometimes they chose to forget what Job had tried to teach them.
Fathers, that’s our job too. We are still called to be priests of our house. We are going to answer to God for how we are fulfilling that duty to our kids. Our wives can certainly play a big part in it, but the real responsibility is ours. We are to teach those kids about Jesus and living a life of holiness, so that they can learn to live a righteous life before God.
Whether those kids learn that lesson is our responsibility, but whether they choose to follow what we teach, is their responsibility. We can’t make their life choices for them, no matter how much we might want to for their sake. Whatever life they choose will have consequences, but our responsibility doesn’t end even when they grow up. We are still their father, the Patriarch of the family, and we are still commissioned by God to keep them covered in prayer, and to try and teach them the right way, even though they may not want to hear it. We have to maintain integrity in your own relationship with God as an example for them to follow.
Look at Job’s commitment to his kids in Job 1:4-5. Remember, Job did all this hundreds of years before God ever gave Moses the Ten Commandments and the Law on top of Mt. Sinai. There were no books of the Law of Moses, no Bible for Job to read. He had his own relationship with God, and that relationship helped Job to remain faithful and righteous in the eyes of God.
We have the written word of God at our fingertips, and we can have the same relationship with our Father in Heaven as Job did. God is always waiting to hear from us so that He can teach us to be good fathers for our kids and priests for our home. We just have to commit our ways unto the Lord and call upon him daily to help us to become the priest and father that we need to be.
Job’s kids were just like ours. They liked to socialize with friends and live a life of partying and feasting. Job 1:4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
Every day it seems that one of his sons or daughters was having a party at their house, and they invited everybody else to join them. Every night there was a feast going on in one of his kid’s homes. Every night the wealth of their father enabled them to live the party life. They weren’t very concerned about holiness and righteousness when the wine was flowing and the music was playing. Job didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much he could do to stop them from doing wrong, but there was something that he knew he had to do.
Job 1:5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
Job knew that their riotous, party life wasn't the way that he had taught them to live. He also knew that he could not make them holy by imparting God’s grace upon them. He could not force them to be holy. The best thing he could do was pray for them, continually remind them of the rules, precepts and instructions about living holy and encourage them to act right and repent of their sins.
Since they were living in their own houses and no longer under his roof, he couldn’t preach to them all the time about their lifestyles, but every morning, bright and early, he would call servants to come and he sent them out as messengers to go and tell those kids to come to Job’s house for prayer meeting, church and the offering of sacrifices.
Father’s do we call our kids, or stay in contact with them? I know that we can’t always call them to come home, but we can invite them to get to The Father’s House and go to church. In addition to that we can call upon God to send angels to watch over them, and to somehow lead them back to the Father’s house. Job’s servants are our heavenly angels, sent to minister to our children. Do we pray for those kids, and seek to have someone lead them back to Jesus?
Every morning Job would call a prayer meeting. They would fast and pray, ask them to cleanse themselves ceremonially, and then offer a sacrifice on their behalf. Job wanted them to remember that God was their Father and that they owed their lives to Him. Job did this every day, continually calling for a time of repentance and of sacrifice in order to remind his kids that they must live holy before God.
Do you think Job’s kids began to complain about the daily routine? I wonder if they just took it all for granted. They only came to Job’s house out of duty and respect to their father, but not to God. I wonder how often they would try to ignore the messenger who came to call them to Job’s house. I wonder how often they complained about Job’s constant prayer meetings and church services? I wonder how many times they tried to find an excuse to stay home?
You see, nothing changes. People are the same today as they were 4000 years ago. They still choose to forget God so much.
That does not remove the responsibility we have as fathers to keep on trying to reach out to them with the truth, even when they don’t want to hear it, and even if it makes them angry. Our duty, as fathers and priests of the house, never ceases. As long we live and as long as our children live we will have that responsibility.
There’s much more to this story, but let me come to the close by saying that Job’s prayers and sacrificing for his 10 children seemed to be all for naught when all 10 of them were killed in tragic circumstances.
But there is a greater picture here. Yes, all 10 died, and there’s no explicit word that says that any of them were saved. However, there came a time when Job had 10 more children.
At the end of Job’s trials, Job 42:13 says, “He had also seven sons and three daughters.” God restored his family.
Many people even say that the original 10 were resurrected but I don’t think that’s right. God did restore Job’s family, but in the natural, a new set of children were born. It wasn’t the lost kids being raised from the dead, except in a symbolic manner.
What I see is a hint that God’s mercy and grace would allow Job’s children to somehow be restored in the resurrection and Job would see his family again. That’s the picture I get out of it, and I could be wrong, but it’s no coincidence that he lost 10 and got the same number back. If those first 10 children would be in the resurrection, how much did Job’s prayer covering and constant teaching have to do with their restoration?
Fathers, don’t give up on praying and teaching your kids. Your prayers and constant sacrifice of prayer and offerings unto God and calling upon the name of the Lord for those kids will not go unanswered. You never know what God is doing behind the scenes or who God will send their way to turn them around.
In Acts chapter 16 we see the story of the jailor who invited Paul and Silas to come to his house and pray for his family, and preach the gospel. When Paul went in and did as the jailor asked, Paul and Silas told him Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
God is faithful to answer prayer so fathers, keep praying, and keep on believing for your children to come home to Jesus. Sure, they have to make their own choices, but I believe the Holy Ghost has power to help them make the right choice to turn around and come home to Jesus.
Keep on praying, keep on believing, and keep on being the priest of your household. Keep on being the father that God has called you to be for your family, and for the family of God, and when your children come home, and when you meet them in the resurrection, that will surely be a glad reunion day. Have a blessed Father’s Day and keep on serving your Heavenly Father faithfully. Let your light shine for the sake of your family!
