Iliff and Saltillo UM Churches
June 20, 2004
Father’s Day
“A Father Who Walked with God”
Genesis 5:21-24
Hebrews 11:5
INTRODUCTION: Today is Father’s Day and we can look at it from different perspectives. A child writes, “Father’s Day is just like Mother’s Day except you don’t spend as much money on the present.”
A fifth grader in answer to the question “What does it mean to be a Father?” said,
“To get a good job and make a lot of money. Going to work in the morning and coming home with a headache.”
Fatherhood has changed a lot over the years. One Father was asked who was in charge at his house. He answered, “Well, my wife bosses the children. My children boss the dog and cat, and I can say anything I want to the geraniums.”
Another father was trying to be helpful when his wife had the flu. Each morning he pinned a note to her pillow before he left for work. On Monday the note read:
Dearest,
Sleep late. Everything is under control. Lunches packed. Kids off to school. Menu for dinner planned. Your lunch is on a tray in the refrigerator--fruit cup and finger sandwiches. Thermos of hot tea by bedside. See you around 6:00.
Tuesday a.m. the note read:
Honey: Sorry about the egg rack in the refrigerator. Hope you got back to sleep. Did the kids tell you about the coke I put in the thermoses? The school might call you on this. Dinner may be a little late. I’m doing your door-to-door canvas for liver research. Your lunch is in the refrigerator. Hope you like leftover chili.
Wednesday a.m.
Dear Doris,
Why in the name of all that is sane would you put soap powder in the flour canister? If you have time could you please come up with a likely spot for Chris’s missing shoes? We’ve checked the clothes hamper, garage, back seat of the car and the wood box. Did you know the school has a ruling on bedroom slippers? There’s some cold pizza for you on a napkin in the oven drawer. Will be late tonight. Driving eight Girl Scouts to tour meat packing plant.
Thursday: Doris, Don’t panic over water in hallway. It crested last night at 9:00 p.m. Will finish laundry tonight. Please pencil in answers to the following:
1. How do you turn on the garbage disposal?
2. Why would that rotten kid leave his shoes in his boots?
3. How do you remove a Confederate flag inked on the palm of a small boy’s hand?
4. What do you do with leftovers when they begin to snap at you when you open the door?
I don’t know what you’re having for lunch. Surprise me!
Friday: Hey,
Don’t drink from the pitcher by the sink. Am trying to restore pink dress shirt to original white. Take heart. Tonight the ironing will be folded, the house cleaned and dinner on time.
I called your Mother!
TRANSITION: These are a few tidbits in the life of a father today, however, we don’t have any insight on what daily things took place in the life of our Bible character, Enoch. We don’t know about the daily grind he experienced in his work. We don’t know what frustrations that he encountered as he was raising his family; but even in the glimpse that is given in scripture, we know some very important things about him that still apply to us today.
Enoch was known as one of the Patriarchs before the flood. He was the son of Jared and the father of Methuselah. You probably have heard the saying, “He’s as old as Methuselah.” That comes from this scripture. Methuselah was the oldest person in the Bible living 969 years. Enoch was his father. Enoch was 7th in decent from Adam in the line of Seth and lived before Noah. In fact he was the great grandfather of Noah. What was so significant about this man?
1. Enoch Walked with God: In chapter 5 of Genesis the genealogy reads pretty much the same for everyone. It tells how many years they lived and who they became the father of and how old they were when they died. But in Enoch’s record there was something else included.
Verse 21 when Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah and after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God.
In his earlier life no mention was made concerning the spiritual side of his life. Maybe it was not really important to him, and he was just indifferent to it. Maybe he lived his life without much thought of God. At any rate, religion is not mentioned in the early part of his life. Looking back at your own life there might have been a time when it wasn’t important to you either. You just lived your life year after year without much thought of the need for God. But at some point in our lives, we are confronted with our need for something or Someone bigger and more powerful than what we are. We are made aware of our inability to handle everything on our own. Some people experience crises, some experience wake up calls bringing them to a decision, for some it is change in their life’s situation--the impact of a family member. Think back on what it was that spoke to you of your need for God or what is speaking to you today of your need for Him.
The turning point for Enoch appears to be when he became a father, for scripture says, “And after he became the father of Methuselah he walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
It doesn’t appear that the times for raising a family were any better than they are now. Enoch walked with God amid wicked surroundings. We know this because in Chapter 6:5, 6 “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain.” Enoch was raising his family in a less than perfect environment and yet he did it successfully because “he walked with God.”
2. Walking With God was Enoch’s Lifestyle: What Does It Mean to Walk with God? I think you could say that it becomes your LIFESTYLE. It is not just walking BEFORE God with a sense of respect and a little bit of knowledge about God. It is not just attending church once in awhile or being a member of a church. Walking with God is not an OCCASIONAL THING. Enoch had a close relationship with God in his daily life. He didn’t break away and run ahead thinking that he knew better than God. He didn’t lag behind and complain as if being a child of God was a great chore. He saw his walk as both an honor and a responsibility. How can we make good decisions if we are trying to do it on our own? Enoch walked with God in the ordinary things of life.
Matthew Henry says, “Some think that high attainment in religion are inconsistent with the cares and perplexities unavoidably connected with the active life. The cloister and convent is not the only place where devotion is beheld. Spirituality does not only flourish in the solitude of the desert as a recluse.”
Enoch proved this. He walked with God in his every-day-life and discussed the daily concerns as he went along. We can learn to do the same thing today. Do you tell Him about the problems you are having on the job, with your kids, with your finances or with your health? Scripture says, “Do not be anxious about anything but by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). Talk it over with God as you walk with Him. Are you doing this?
You might say, “I just don’t know how to get into contact with God. I just can’t make sense out of it all--I just don’t understand this ‘religious stuff.’ I don’t know how to experience God.”
What does it mean to walk with God? It means taking the first step. God has provided the introduction and connection through Jesus. He is the bridge or the link to God for us today. Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). First you must come to the place where you recognize your need. Then you need to CALL on Him to forgive you of your sins and come into your life. Scripture says that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21). That is taking the first step--responding and calling on His Name. And then from that time on continue to WALK with God consistently each day. Colossians 2:6 tells us “As you have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.”
3. The Outcome of Enoch’s Walk: How did God feel about the life that this father was living? Did it matter one way or another how he lived his life? Scripture gives us the answer in Hebrews 11:5. “Before he was taken he was COMMENDED as one who pleased God.” We all like to be commended by people rather than condemned over our failures don’t we? But how much better is it to be COMMENDED by God.
Not only was Enoch’s life enriched by walking in close relationship with God, and not only did his family receive the knowledge and guidance about how to live their lives in the right way, but Enoch’s influence reached out to other people who were living in that day. Jude 14 tells us that Enoch warned people of the judgment of God. Perhaps he was able to influence many people for God during the years that he lived. Is our Christian influence evident in our immediate families? Do they know that we are even a Christian? Do they know that we are walking with God each day? Can they tell a difference in the way we live our lives? Enoch knew that it was a great honor to walk with God, and he knew that it was also a great responsibility. We know that he was successful because he pleased God and he “was not for God took him.” (vs. 24). He was only one of two people in scripture who did not experience death but was translated. The other was Elijah.
CONCLUSION: Father’s day comes just once a year but walking with God is a daily experience. Today can be the beginning of that walk as well as a recommitment to walking with God.. As you go into a new week remember three things about Enoch. He Walked with God, It was his Lifestyle, and He Pleased God.
