WHERE HAVE ALL THE FATHERS GONE?
TEXT: MATTHEW 19:3-7
INTRODUCTION:
1. Remember the hootnany. One of the more memorable song to arise from that surrounding was the song "Where Have all the Flowers Gone."
2. The Song ended with the words, When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn."
3. Today we would like to reword the title of that song and ask, Where have all the Fathers gone?
4. In fact today many would say who cares? What difference does it make anyway?
DISCUSSION:
I. The importance of the Father.
A. The Bible has always recognized the significance of the father, but the world has, until recently ignored or ridiculed him.
B. Reams of research papers have examined and extolled the importance of the mother, but--until recently--little or nothing has been written about the father.
C. Anti-family critics ignore him and push him into the background, or blame every thing that ever goes wrong with the family on him.
D. One early report from the ’70’s said, "The influence begins before the baby is born by keeping the mother in a good frame of mind."
E. Another early report found that a lack of fathering could damage a child’s school progress. Forty-four third graders in Cape Cod: Those with a significant Father presence rated much higher in School.
F. Article in this weeks "Detroit News." Pointed out that a lack of a father figure was a common denominator in much of the poverty in America.
G. Exerts from article "Parents Best Defense."
H. Studies are finding that young boys without fathers turn to immature adolescent boys to learn how to be a man and become pessimistic and antisocial.
II. The first obligation of the father to the child is to be a Christian.
A. We are to bring them up in the Lord (Eph 6:1-4)
1. Live an honorable life so that your children may honor you.
a. Abraham’s sin.
2. Bring them up in training.
a. This involves modeling
b. Your boys are learning whether real men are Christians.
c. Your children are learning how to express love.
d. Your are going to have to know and model the word. Deut 6:
III. The husband’s second obligation is the be a good husband.
A. The husband is to be closer to his wife than any other person in the world. (Mat. 19:3-6).
B. Cleave = KOLLAO is from the word KOLLA which means to glue together, to fasten together to cement.
1. The woman who wrote to Ann Landers complaining about her new daughter-in-Law.
C. This love is the highest form of love on earth. (Eph. 5:21.25).
D. I Pet. 3:1-7.
E. This means to be a good father you must be careful that your children do not come between you and your wife.
IV. Realize the importance of your children.
A. Lose the whole world
B. Heritage from the Lord.
C. Funerals with no one coming.
