"FATHER’S AND THEIR GREAT RESPONSIBILITY" GEN 15:1-15)

June 21st, 2009

Int. It is a fact that more collect calls are recorded on Father's Day then on any other day of the year!

A. It is impossible to speak of "Parent’s" or "Father’s" in the Biblical sense without speaking about "Parental Responsibility."

B. The word "Father" is found 979 times in the Bible, denoting it’s importance.

C. One mother told of hearing her pre-school son talking to another 4- year-old boy on the front steps. "Where is your daddy?" he asked. "I've never seen him." "Oh, he doesn't live here," came the reply. "He only sleeps here."

1. Luther declared that when parents do not teach their children the ways of the Lord, there is such a perversion of nature as when fire does not burn, or water wet. A father who is not a parent to his children is apparent."

A. Will Rogers: "I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him 'father'.

B. Don't put all the blame on the schools: One percent of the child's time is spent under the influence of the Sunday school; seven percent under the influence of the public school; 92 percent under the influence of the home.

2. Timothy Fellows said, "Parents have the duty to see to it that their children are well-married. It is not enough that parent’s see their children marry. They cannot wipe their brow and assume their responsibilities are met. Their duty is to see their children are well-married."

3. Benjamin Wadsworth preached: "Virtue and piety are rather to be sought for in a husband and wife, than beauty and riches.

A. A father asked his terminally ill son, ""Are you afraid to meet Jesus, my boy?" Blinking away a few tears, the little fellow said bravely, "No, not if He's like you, Dad!"

4. The Chinese have a proverb, when a son is born into a family a bow and arrow are hung before the gate.

A. Socrates wrote: Could I climb the highest place in Athens, I would lift my voice and proclaim: "Fellow citizens, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth, and take so little care of your children, to whom one day you must relinquish it all?"

5. In Eastern books, sons are spoken of as arrows of their fathers. (Ps. 127:4) "As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth."

Ill. Ross Perot: "When asked several years ago about whether he considered himself a success, he replied that he wouldn't know until his five children had grown to adulthood."

6. Vance Havner said: "America is a disaster area home-wise. The automobile took the family out of the home and television brought the world into the home."

7. One father said to another: "I’m no model father. All that I am trying to do is behave so that when people tell my son he reminds them of me, he’ll stick out his chest instead of his tongue."

Ill. A father sat in his easy chair reading the Sunday paper. Then he said to his boy, "Put down that funny paper. Get ready for Sunday School." The boy replied, "Daddy, aren’t you going with me?" "No, I’m not going with you, but I want you to hurry up and get ready." "Daddy, did you go to Sunday School when you were a little boy like me?" "Certainly I did. I went every Sunday." said the father. The little boy remarked as he walked sadly away, "I bet it won’t do me any good either!"

8. Paul Harvey said: "Fathers are what gives daughters away to other men who aren’t nearly good enough, so they can have grandchildren who are smarter and better than anybody’s."

9. But, Fathers -- take heart, your day is coming, and you can be sure of getting at least one thing -- the bills from Mother's Day.

I. A FATHER’S FAITH SHOULD BE AN OBEDIENT FAITH.

A. TOTAL SURRENDER SHOULD BE ONE’S MOTTO.

1. "....When Abraham was tried, he offered up Isaac...." Gen 22:17)

2. The phrase "offered up" is the same that used for "slaying and offering up sacrifices."

3. Notice that Abraham was "TRIED:

4. Jesus "tried" the young rich ruler, when he said, (Mt 19:21) ".....If thou will be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and that shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me."

5. Jesus "tried" the Canaanitish woman when He said: (Mt. 15:26) ".....It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs."

B. A FATHER’S RESPONSE TO GOD’S COMMAND WILL INVOLVE SEVERAL THINGS.

1. It will test your submission to the will of God.

2. It will test your affections, as to whether you love the Lord or not.

3. It will simply test one’s faith.

II. CONSIDER HOW MISERABLE MANY FATHERS FAIL TODAY.

 

1. The Federalist Papers: "Many families will celebrate Father's Day this Sunday, but the tragic reality is that some 35-million children live absent or apart from their biological fathers. One in two children -- and only one in five inner-city children -- are in homes with their fathers."

2. "Children who grow up with their fathers do far better -- emotionally, educationally, physically, every way we can measure -- than children who do not," notes Institute for American Values president David Blankenhorn. "This conclusion holds true even when differences of race, class and income are taken into account.

3. The simple truth is that fathers are irreplaceable in shaping the competence and character of their children. ... [The absence of fathers] from family life is surely the most socially consequential family trend of our era."

4. Here are some sobering statistics: According to the Bureau of the Census:

a. 63% of teen suicides,

b. 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions,

c. 71% of high-school dropouts,

d. 75% of children in chemical-abuse centers,

e. 80% of rapists,

f. 85% of youths in prison,

g. 85% of children who exhibit behavioral disorders,

h. And 90% of homeless and runaway children are children from fatherless homes.

i. In fact, children born to unwed mothers are ten times more likely to live in poverty as children with fathers in the home.

5. English Proverb "One good father is worth more than a hundred schoolmasters."

6. "There are many ways to measure success; not the least of which is the way your child describes you when talking to a friend."

 

III. BEING A REAL FATHER IS MORE THAN SIMPLY REPRODUCING A CHILD.

a. (Mat 16:24) "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."

"Jesus, to win Thyself so fair,

Thy cross I will with gladness bear:

Since so the rules of heaven ordain,

The first I'll wed the next to gain."

b. One should take much pride in being a good father.

Happy Father's Day

Any man can be a Father,

but it takes a special person

to be called Dad.

c. How many young people are drawn to the opposite sex, only to hear Paul say,

a. (2 Cor 6:14) "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"

d. How important it is to say, "Nothing between me and my Saviour"

Nothing between my soul and the Savior,
Naught of this world's delusive dream;
I have renounced all sinful pleasure;
Jesus is mine, there's nothing between.

Nothing between my soul and the Savior,
So that His blessed face may be seen;
Nothing preventing the least of His favor,
Keep the way clear! Let nothing between.

Nothing between, like worldly pleasure;
Habits of life, though harmless they seem,
Must not my heart from Him e'er sever;
He is my all, there's nothing between.

e. (Job 22:2) "Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?"

 

a. Imagine the books that have been written on the lives of David, Paul, Abraham etc.

f. C. H. Spurgeon: ""The way in which a man lives in his home is vital. It will not do to be a saint abroad--and a devil at home! There are some of that kind. They are wonderfully sweet at a prayer meeting, but they are dreadfully sour to their wives and children. This will never do!

Every genuine father should say, and mean it, 'I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.' It is in the home that we get the truest proof of godliness!

g. The father who does not make the eternal welfare of his children, the supreme end of all his conduct towards them, may profess to believe as a Christian--but he certainly acts as an Atheist!

h. Someone has said: "I think it must somewhere be written, that the virtues of the mothers should be visited on their children as well as the sins of the fathers."

i. Richard Baxter: "If you train up your children in ungodliness, you may as well say that you intend to have them damned!"

j. Remember tale about the wooden bowl and the four year old grandson!

k. It has been said that "a child is not likely to find a father in God unless he finds something of God in his father." Recently I asked the preschool class in our Sunday school to draw a picture of God. I intended to use them as an illustration for my Sunday sermon. Toward the end of class the children were excited to show me their work. They came up with rainbows and men with big hands. Finally, my daughter showed me her picture: a man with a suit and tie on. "I don't know what God looks like," she said, "so I just drew my daddy instead." What an awesome responsibility.

Conclusion: