Rejoicing In Our Fathers

Proverbs 29:3

Rejoicing in Our Fathers

Woodlawn Baptist Church

June 20, 2004

Introduction

I realize I don’t have much time this morning, but I came across a Father’s Thesaurus yesterday (from a sermon by Jeff Strite) and just had to share some of the excerpts from it. I want you ladies and children to pay close attention because this could really help you at home.

When a man says: "IT’S A GUY THING"

He means: "There is no rational thought pattern connected with this, and you have no chance at all of making it logical"

When your husband says "CAN I HELP WITH DINNER"

He means: "Why isn’t it already on the table?"

When he says "UH HUH, SURE HONEY,” or “YES, DEAR"

He means: Absolutely nothing – It’s a conditioned response.

When your father says ’’IT WOULD TAKE TOO LONG TO EXPLAIN"

He means: "I have no idea how it works"

When a man says "TAKE A BREAK, HONEY. YOU ARE WORKING TOO HARD’’

He means: "I can’t hear the game over the vacuum cleaner"

When dad says ’THAT’S INTERESTING.’

He means: "Are you still talking?"

When he says "YOU KNOW HOW BAD MY MEMORY IS."

He means: " I can remember the Oscar Myer Weiner song, the web-addresses of all my favorite sites & the size wrench that fits every nut and bolt on my truck – but I forgot your birthday"

When a man says ’OH, DON’T FUSS, I JUST CUT MYSELF. IT’S NO BIG DEAL"

He means: "I have actually severed a limb, but I will bleed to death before I admit I’m hurt"

When he says ’I CAN’T FIND IT.’’

He means: "It didn’t fall into my outstretched hand, so I’m completely clueless"

When your father says “I HEARD YOU.”

He means: "I haven’t the foggiest clue what you just said and I am hoping desperately that I can fake it well enough so that you’ll not yell at me."

When your husband says "YOU KNOW I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE ELSE"

He means: "I am used to the way you yell at me and realize it could be worse."

When a man says "YOU LOOK TERRIFIC!"

He means: "Oh please don’t try on one more outfit, I’m starving."

When your dad says "I’M NOT LOST. I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE WE ARE.’’

He means: : "No one will ever see us alive again."#

That sound like anyone’s husband or dad? I’m thankful today that we enjoy poking fun at dads. It is a mean world in which we live, one where the value of our fathers is often overlooked or forgotten, one in which fathers are too often portrayed as dimwitted dufusses that have to be constantly rescued by everyone else. I realize that more and more we are seeing a trend of irresponsible men who claim to be fathers, but today I want to celebrate Father’s Day by having you quickly consider four groups of fathers in whom we ought to daily rejoice.

Rejoice in your earthly fathers.

Proverbs 29:3 quite plainly says,

“Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father…”

In other words, anyone who can’t rejoice in his father is a fool. “Fools despise wisdom and instruction,” but the person who loves wisdom, who has the capacity to think and reason and see beyond himself ought to recognize what a great need he has to rejoice in his earthly father. In Exodus 20:12, right in the middle of the Ten Commandments, we are told to…

“Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

You might say to me that your father was a worthless bum and that he never did anything for you to rejoice in him or honor him, but I can tell you this, you’re not pitting yourself against my words, but God’s words. You see, God’s command to honor your father isn’t optional or conditional. He didn’t say that if you have a good dad to honor him; God just said to honor him, period, and as I already said, only a self-centered fool can’t see something to rejoice in. My high school English teacher told us something one day I’ll never forget. He said that he had never met a person he couldn’t learn from, and I think you can apply that to what we’re talking about. You can find something to rejoice in, even if its in the negative. Your father was a drunk you say? Then rejoice that you got to see what a tragedy that was and now you don’t have to make his mistakes. Some of you may have to look really hard for something, but that’s the exception and not the norm.

By and large, most of us have fathers in whom we can easily rejoice. They loved us, spent time with us, taught us, provided for us, and much, much more. I remember as a boy how my dad was my superman. In high school I got into an argument with my basketball coach one day. He had hit me in the head with a basketball because he didn’t like something I had done, and I told him my dad would come up there and whip him, and I believed he could have (not that he would have!). But I want to tell you that the older I have grown and the more I spend time with my dad, the more I realize that he is still my superman. I find more and more reason to rejoice in him.