Community Covenant Church - Sermons

June 17, 2007 (Father’s Day)

Scripture Readings

Genesis 12:1-5

1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

2 "I will make you into a great nation
       and I will bless you;
       I will make your name great,
       and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,
       and whoever curses you I will curse;
       and all peoples on earth
       will be blessed through you."

4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Hebrews 11:8-12

8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because heconsidered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Message - “A Father’s Lesson”

It only fitting that since I lifted up women on Mother’s Day that I offer equal time to men on Father’s Day. And while I could simply focus our attention upon our Heaven Father as the perfect model for what we should strive to be like, I would instead choose some human examples… men, who for better or worse, teach us some potentials and lessons of fatherhood. While we will look at Abraham as our primary example, other biblical figures will also weigh in, reminding us of how the sacred stories of scripture teach us not only through commendable examples but also through human failures with their consequences.

In that way I want to present a couple fatherly attributes which serve God by serving families. And we need to do this not because it is Father’s Day, but because we occasionally need a reminder of the importance of fathers being fathers; for when they are not, we all suffer.

For example, studies show that when all other factors are held constant, families with absent or inactive fathers are, on the whole, different than families with active fathers: absent father being defined as fathers who could, but choose not to, participate in raising their children:

- Boys growing up without active fathers are twice as likely to go to jail. They are more likely to be idle than to be in school, they are more likely to be unemployed and to be high school drop-outs.

- Girls without active fathers are twice as likely to have children out of wedlock.

Surprising to some, these characteristics of families with inactive fathers are the same across racial and economic lines; neither the color of your skin nor your bank balance will protect you from the impact of an absent father.

Citation: Wilson, James Q. “The Ties That Do Not Bind: The Decline of Marriage and Loyalty”, In Character, Fall 2005. http://www.incharacter.org/article.php?article=46#

As another organization, “The National Center for Fathering”, summarizes:

Children who live absent from their biological fathers, on average, are more likely to be poor, experience educational, health, emotional and psychological problems, be victims of child abuse, and engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live with their married, biological mother and father. Citation: www.fathers.com

By the way, in light of our obvious need for fathers to be fathers for the sake of their families, children and society, as I point out a couple powerful fatherly attributes modeled in scripture, I do not mean to imply that these attributes are in any way exclusive to men. But they certainly are fatherly attributes needed for families and especially for children to grow up sound and healthy.

Powerful fatherly attributes

1. Faith

First of all I want to pull us back to our scripture readings, and what they tell us of Abraham. While the honesty found in scripture reminds us that Abraham was far from perfect, both the Old and New Testaments acclaim his faith. So great was his example that he is called the “father of all who have faith in God”. (Romans 4:16) And again, while I would lift up faith as a positive attribute for both men and women, it is a particularly powerful attribute in men.

For in a culture that seeks to glorify the self; in a world which like the culture of Babel seeks to “make a name” for itself rather than to glorify the Creator through the talents and treasures and time God gives to people here on earth…. In such a rat race of proving one’s self, of competing to be the best; the richest, the most beautiful, the most self-sufficient, the most admired, the most well-known, the most philanthropic, the most “whatever” (as defined by current popularity)… in such a culture, to declare that there is One who is above you, One whose will you will bow to, one whose voice you will obey… this is the witness of faith which fathers are called to offer.

Imagine all the “but what about…” questions Abraham could have asked of God. At the age of 75 Abraham had established quite a nice life for himself. But when God called Him to trust Him to define a whole new life in a whole new place, the Book of Genesis tells us:

While I was a bit young to remember my families move from Massachusetts to Ohio, I vividly remember our move from Ohio to Chicago, IL. And while our moves were related to my father’s work, Dad made it clear to us all that it was God who would help us to find a new home and schools and friends and Christian fellowship. When I was older I saw that same faith manifested in my father as he did what few people did in his day; when he left his company of 25 years to take a new job.

Today many people know the stress of being forced to take “new jobs” as old jobs end in a turbulent marketplace. When my father deliberately made a risky change in the 1970’s, I saw the reality of his faith in God.

As the Bible gives us Abraham as an example of a man of faith, I can’t help but contrast him with Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, who upon entering the temple to perform his priestly duties, is told by an angel that God was going to answer the prayers he and his wife had offered to God; that they would have a son. To which, unfortunately, Zechariah responded:

Luke 1:18….."How can I be sure of this?

…not exactly a bold proclamation of faith, right? But how many of us can relate to a need for some assurances?

Well, we know that God’s will was still accomplished despite this priest’s less-than-stellar faith…. Though he did pay the consequence of not being able to speak until their baby was born; and then to do what God had told him to do… to name the promised baby John.

Interestingly, much closer to Abraham’s time, we may have another biblical example of a father’s feeble faith. For before we are introduced to Abraham, we are told of his father, Terah, whom the Bible records stopped short of his plans to go to Canaan by settling down in Haran. (Genesis 11:24-32) Many have wondered if Terah had been called by God as Abraham would one day be, but Terah stopped short of becoming our father of faith.

I believe that all people, but particularly men have the potential to powerfully contrast human strength & security with a dependence upon God. They have the ability to contrast an aggressive zeal for accomplishment with humbleness before their Creator. I believe that one reason the Bible calls fathers to be spiritual leaders within their families is that those very contrasts can make faith very visible… very real for younger generations to see and model their lives after.

Abraham’s faith was visible and real, for he trusted more in God than in his own strength and security. He trusted that even at the age of 75 God could begin a new work in him, a work that would bless all the peoples on earth. He trusted in God’s ability to provide and protect, and to bless him and Sarai by creating through them a great nation.

Does your life model the faith of Abraham, or is it like the hesitant Zechariah, or like Terah whose faith possibly fell short of God’s plans for his life? Do you think you are too settled… to old… to “set in your ways” to allow God to move you to a new place where he will bless the world through you? (Circle one: YES NO)

When active fathers and grandfathers exhibit the faith of Abraham, faith and trust in God becomes a real and exciting dimension to life for the next generations to see and model.

2. Forgiving and Receiving Forgiveness

A second positive attribute I look for in fathers is the ability to forgive and to receive forgiveness.

Here I consider David, whose faith in God was evident from an early age, but whose acts of forgiveness and ability to be forgiven became highlighted as his story unfolded. For who among us could act toward King Saul the way David, the anointed future-King of Israel, did? Who among us would forgive Saul’s attempts to kill us:

- By throwing spears at us as we played our harp to sooth Saul’s spirit?

- By going out time and time again with his armies to kill us?

Who among us when given chances to kill Saul, as David was given, would instead honor Saul as God’s anointed, and allowing God to determine Saul’s future?

Later, when David becomes King, his forgiveness of Saul was seen in how David treated Saul’s family. For while new Kings would often kill any potential heirs of previous Kings, David provided for Saul’s grandson Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9:1-12) by giving him back Saul’s family land and by providing him with servants to work the land, for Mephibosheth was crippled. He was also invited to eat all his meals with David.

David exhibited a forgiving nature, and as we learn in the story of Bathsheba and the Prophet Nathan, David was able to receive God’s forgiveness through a humble & repentant heart. Even as a King, David’s pride melted in the reality of his sin, and he allowed his sin to draw him back to God.

Almost every Sunday when we share in the Lord’s Prayer we ask God to “Forgive us our trespasses (sins) as we forgive those who trespass (sin) against us”. A father’s ability to deal with the knowledge of his own sin, to accept God’s forgiveness, and to forgive the sins of others, has a powerful impact upon his family.

Once a young boy watched as his father walked into their living room. The boy noticed that his younger brother, John, began to cower slightly as his father entered. The older boy sensed that John had done something wrong. Then he saw from a distance what his brother had done. The younger boy had opened his father’s brand new hymnal and scribbled all over the first page with a pen.
Staring at their father fearfully, both brothers waited for John’s punishment. Their father picked up his prized hymnal, looked at it carefully and then sat down, without saying a word. Books were precious to him; he was a minister with several academic degrees. For him, books were knowledge.
What he did next was remarkable. Instead of punishing the younger brother, instead of scolding, or yelling, his father took the pen from the little boy’s hand, and then wrote in the book himself, alongside the scribbles that John had made. That father wrote:

“John’s work, 1959, age 2. How many times have I looked into your beautiful face and into your warm, alert eyes looking up at me and thanked God for the one who has now scribbled in my new hymnal. You have made the book sacred, as have your brother and sister to so much of my life.”

The author of the story, the older brother; now an adult, goes on to say how that hymnal became a treasured family possession, how it was tangible proof that their parents loved them, how it taught the lesson that what really matters is people, not objects; patience, not judgment; love, not anger.

Citation: Richard Fairchild, Christian Reader,, adapted by King Duncan

A father’s forgiveness offers many life lessons to his family; something we also witness whenever we remember Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son.

While faith and forgiveness are but two of many powerful attributes fathers may contribute to family life, in some cases a father’s influence has to be experienced in other ways, given the circumstances of life. One example is offered by Philip Yancey in his book Disappointment with God where he relates a touching story from his own life.

One time on a visit to his mother--who had been widowed many years earlier when Philip was just turning a year old—they spent the afternoon together looking through a box of old photos. A certain picture of Philip as an eight-month-old baby caught his eye. Tattered and bent, it looked too banged up to be worth keeping, so he asked his Mom why, with so many other better pictures of him at the same age, she had kept this one.
Yancey writes, "My mother explained to me that she had kept the photo as a memento, because during my father's illness it had been fastened to his iron lung."

During the last four months of his life, Yancey's father lay on his back, completely paralyzed by polio at the age of twenty-four, encased from the neck down in a huge, cylindrical breathing unit. With his two young sons banned from the hospital due to the severity of his illness, he had asked his wife for pictures of her and their two boys. Because he was unable to move even his head, the photos had to be jammed between metal knobs so that they hung within view above him--the only thing he could see. The last four months of his life were spent looking at the faces he loved.

Philip Yancey writes, "I have often thought of that crumpled photo, for it is one of the few links connecting me to the stranger who was my father. Someone I have no memory of, no sensory knowledge of, spent all day, every day thinking of me, devoting himself to me, loving me . . . The emotions I felt when my mother showed me the crumpled photo were the very same emotions I felt that February night in a college dorm room when I first believed in a God of love. Someone is there, I realized. Someone is there who loves me. It was a startling feeling of wild hope, a feeling so new and overwhelming that it seemed fully worth risking my life on."

Citation: Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God

It has been stated that the chief aim of man is to glorify God… to reveal Him in this world. When active fathers yield their lives to God in faith, when they receive His forgiveness and offer forgiveness to others, and when they love their families in whatever ways they can….then fathers will be who God created them to be, and they will touch their families and their world as God intended them to do. May it be so. AMEN.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (r).