Celebrating Fathers
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
God celebrates fathers. Why?
Because He made them. He ordained them. He is their plan A for the family unit.
When a man understands this, he is careful to consider what must be done to please his heavenly Father as a son.
Blessings and curses
9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”
NT
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” 4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
And, ye fathers…
Paul doesn’t say anything to mothers as it relates to raising children. Why? Because it’s natural for a mother to care about her kids, to do whatever she can for her kids. Dads, however, are sometimes a different story.…
Ephesians 6:4 (b)
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
What does it mean to exasperate your children? Colossians 3:21 gives the amplification when it says,
21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
To exasperate your kids to wrath means to make them discouraged. How? By loading them down with expectations.
Because men have a dangerous tendency to want to relive their glory days through their kids, they often say, “I played ball, so you’ll play ball,” or, “I was good at math, so you’ll be good at math,” or, “I’m gregarious and outgoing, so you’ll be gregarious and outgoing.” Don’t do it, Dad. Wise is the father who understands that his children are not to be molded, but to be unfolded. In other words, you have the privilege, Dad, of observing your child carefully, seeing how God made him—and then unfolding what God has built into him from the moment of conception, all for His glory.
Ephesians 6:4 (c)
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Father’s…but bring them up…
The tendency for men is to say, “Earning a living is my job. Raising the kids is my wife’s job.” Scripture says otherwise. The Word of God says dads are to bring up their children. How? First of all, by being there.…
During “Show and Tell,” elementary kids were telling what their dads did for a living. “My daddy is the president of his company,” one said. “He travels all over the world.”
“Well, my daddy is really rich,” said another. “We have nice cars and a pool and even an airplane.”
“My daddy,” said a little boy, “is a professional baseball player.”
Kids and teacher alike were impressed with the stories—until a little girl in the back of the room cautiously said, “My daddy is… here.”
Are you there, Dad? Although we hear lots of talk about “quality time,” in many cases, I think it’s nothing more than an excuse for not spending enough time with our kids.
Ephesians 6:4 (d)
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Fathers…in the training…
We see the same word translated “training” here in Ephesians in Hebrews 12:6 when the writer says,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
Even as you help your children walk in the path God has laid out for them uniquely, it is your responsibility, Dad, to deal with the sin within them innately.
the psalmist declared
5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
This means David was born a sinner. The depravity of man is a doctrine that today’s educators deny, but which God’s Word underscores from cover to cover. Kids are born sinners. Oh, they’re talented. After all, they’re made in the image of God. There is all kinds of potential packed into their little bodies. But there’s also sin, anger, rage, and hostility within them.
One study of juvenile delinquency came to this conclusion: Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and totally self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother’s attention, his playmate’s toys, his uncle’s watch. Deny him these things and he seethes with a rage and aggressiveness that would be murderous were he not so helpless. He’s dirty. He has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue on in their self-centered world of infancy, every child would grow to be a criminal, a thief, a rapist, a killer.
24 Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
Empty threats produce unresolved guilt without healing or restoration.
Emma and pastor Jude. “I am going to make you cry now, so you don’t make me cry later.”
Ephesians 6:4 (e)
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
…and instruction of the Lord.
“Instruction of the Lord” means you talk to your son and daughter constantly about the things of God.
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deuteronomy 6:7
7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Catechism for kids (and adults)
The Reformation was a golden age for catechisms among Protestants. Luther and Calvin placed high priorities on catechizing both children and adults, and each wrote catechisms for that purpose. The Heidelberg Catechism (1562) and The Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647) are the two best-known and most influential catechisms to emerge from the Reformed tradition.
The Shorter Catechism would be suitable for younger children, while The Larger Catechism was written for older children and adults. Henry Jessey (1603–1663), a leader among early Particular Baptists, produced three catechisms bound together, including one with only four questions titled A Catechism for Babes, or, Little Ones.
Here are four reasons this excellent teaching method should be recovered.
1. Children’s minds cling to memorized facts like glue.
1. Children’s minds cling to memorized facts like glue.
Children will amaze you by how much information they can memorize. It is not always a child is unusually brilliant—it’s because they’re children and most kids can memorize far better than adults.
2. Teaching children biblical truth doesn’t save them, but it puts them in the realm of grace.
2. Teaching children biblical truth doesn’t save them, but it puts them in the realm of grace.
We don’t have confirmation classes for their children, but memorized biblical truths will remain into adulthood and can serve as a tool in God’s hand.
3. Catechizing children gives them a framework for interpreting life.
3. Catechizing children gives them a framework for interpreting life.
Teach your children The Baptist Catechism, The New City Catechism, The Heidelberg Catechism, or any number of other classic evangelical catechisms.
As you do, you provide them with a well-rounded Christian worldview. You introduce them to the One who created the world, to how the world went wrong, and to what God has done to repair it. Catechesis introduces children to all the vital doctrines of Scripture, and it equips them with answers when the world begins to pound away at the door of their faith, particularly during the college years.
John Newton—the old slaveholder whom God saved and made a preacher, the man who wrote the famous hymn “Amazing Grace”—was converted in part because his mother catechized him as a child. When Newton wandered far from the fold of God, he knew he was living a life of sin because of the biblical truth hidden in his heart. He knew God was watching, that Christ had come, and that those who rejected him would face an awful eternity. One fateful night during a storm, Newton thought his ship was sinking. Those realities frightened him and caused his heart to yearn for salvation. He later attributed all this, at least in part, to his mother’s catechetical efforts.
4. Seeds of truth planted now may bloom into a harvest of grace.
4. Seeds of truth planted now may bloom into a harvest of grace.
Spiritual formation requires discipline. Teaching your children the great truths of Christianity requires both diligence and patience. Jesus’ parable of the growing seed in Mark 4:26–28 encourages such endeavors:
The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
Brothers and sisters, get a copy of a catechism and start scattering seeds in the young hearts in your home and church. They’re fruitful for all Christians.
Back to it for closing:
Dad, you are to talk to your kids all the time about the Word of God.
“But they won’t like me,” you say.
You’re not parenting to be liked by your children. You’re parenting to train them how to live on earth successfully and in heaven eternally.
“But they’ll think I’m preaching at them.”
You don’t have to give your kids a ten-point outline of Leviticus 23. You simply need to use opportunities that arise naturally to help them to grow spiritually.
“But my kids won’t let me. They don’t open up conversationally.”
Then you have the privilege of doing what the most righteous man on the face of the earth did. Scripture says Job got up every morning and offered sacrifice on behalf of his kids. He bloodied his hands; he sweat; he expended energy in prayer for his children “lest today be the day they forget God or curse Him” (see Job 1:5).
Even if he doesn’t have access to his children because of physical or emotional barriers, there’s not a dad who can’t say, “Even though it’s bloody, even though it makes me sweat, I’m going to pray for my kids with intensity and consistency.” If your children are still under your roof, even if they don’t talk to you, you can slip into their rooms at night while they sleep, kneel at the foot of their beds, lay your hand gently upon them and pray,
“Father, please bless what goes on in my son’s heart or in my daughter’s mind even as they sleep. I pray Your Spirit to come upon them. I pray for wisdom to be understood and embraced by them. I pray that their lives would be pleasing to You. I pray that, even now, Your blood would cover them and that Your angels would stand by them so that the evil one would not be allowed to penetrate, seduce or destroy them.”
No matter what else you may or may not do, Dad—you can and must pray.
The Gospel
The infilling of the Holy Spirit
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Communion