Dear Christian friends:
Although we celebrate Father's Day in most homes today, fathers in our
culture are not really honored as they should be. In fact, many fathers
themselves do not appreciate the important roll that God entrusts to
them. Also we have the radical feminists who think they can raise
children well enough without a father in the home. And as you know,
the family in general is not highly regarded by many liberal thinkers
in our society.
So, I think it is most important for us on this Father's Day to hear
again what the Bible teaches regarding Fatherhood and the family.
As a guide for my sermon I have chosen Psalm 128, which instructs us
about God's ideas of a father. It says: (read it!)
So today I want to speak to you about
The Ideal Father
I. Soloman in this Psalm gives us the characteristics of the Ideal father.
(read verse 1!)
A. So the Ideal father is one who "fears" the Lord.
1. Such a father realizes and believes that God is the Creator of the heavens
and the earth and of all the living.
2. And so it follows logically that the ideal father really should realize
and believe that he is a co-creator with God when he begets children, that
he is involved in an awesome, mysterious, and holy work, which is well
pleasing to God and blessed by God. Children are not products and property,
as some child experts proclaim, problems to be solved. They are creations
of God to be nurtured by God. They need to hear the Word of their Father
in heaven from their father on earth. Children take to God's Word like
baby ducks to the water.
3. In the Psalm preceding our text, Solomon says, (read Psalm 127:3) It
follows therefore that the ideal father looks upon his wife as a gift from
God, a partner in the creation and preservation of children. She is not
his property, but his "helper." Solomon says, "He who finds a wife finds
what is good and receives favor from the Lord." A husband who does not
love and honor His wife as a gift from God is in conflict with God and
sins grievously! Of course, I must admit that there are some days and
some situations when a wife doesn't seem like a gift of God. And the same
goes for the children. A wife may seem like a dragon and children sometimes
are brats. That, of course, is due to our sinfulness and fallen human
nature, and so we need to be humble and forgiving, just as God in Christ
has forgiven us.
4. I must add that the privilege and pleasure of co-creating children
should take place only within the security and bonds of marriage. God
has revealed in the Bible that He intends the joy of the physical aspects
of the marital relationship to be experienced only between husband and wife.
In the eyes of some, this Commandment is seen as "stone age" morality. The
entertainment industry, judging by the movies and television sitcoms, would
have us believe that there are no moral or spiritual restrictions for a
physical relationship between men and women. The ideal father will warn his
children of this devilish immorality.
So we see that the ideal father fears the Lord and sees the Lord as the
Creator and himself and his wife as co-creators and his children as
creations of God to be nurtured by God through himself and his wife. He is
to bring up his children in the nurture and will of the Lord God to whom
he is accountable. This leads us to the second characteristic of the ideal
father.
B. The ideal father walks in the Lord's "ways" our text tells us.
1. The ideal father recognizes the Ten Commandments as God's holy law for
all times and all peoples, that they guide us to love God and our neighbor
and are given by God to us humans for our good. As I mentioned before, many
today view the Ten Commandments as "Stone age" morality! Today the ungodly
liberals say that society should decide what is right and wrong, not the
Church, not God. Many of them say that there is no God, or if they have a
god it is one of their own imagination. Each one wants to do what is right
in his own eyes! And so we have an amoral nation, a society unblessed by
God with many broken homes, and fatherless, misguided children.
The ideal father should know and memorize these Ten Commandments and teach
them diligently to his children, so that they with him, "fear and love God."
It has been said that the average Christian father can recite only four of the
ten Commandments, not to mention Luther's explanation. What a shocking statistic!
How can we teach them to our children if we don't know them so that we have
a guide for "walking in his ways."
We also need to know them thoroughly so that we become aware of our sinfulness
and sins. Because one of the purposes of these Ten Commandments is that they
serve as a mirror to show us our sinful heart and deeds. We need to be aware
of this so that we see the need of a Savior. Walking in God's ways includes
believing in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
2. The ideal father believes that Jesus Christ, God's eternal Son, came into
the world to save sinners from God's wrath, as we learn from God's word in the
Bible. (Romans 5:6-11) He not only believes this for himself but he also helps
his children to believe this. The ideal father also demonstrates this Gospel by
how he deals with his children when they disobey or commit other sins. After
correcting them and discipling them he forgives them when they are sorry and
forgets it. Furthermore, when the father himself sins against his children he
apologizes to them and asks them to forgive him. Father's who do not apologize
and ask for forgiveness from their wives and children are not living a good
example. "Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways," beautifully
describes the characteristics of the ideal father. If we fathers are honest
we will have to admit and confess that we have not too well fulfilled this
roll. Fortunately, we have a heavenly Father who is long suffering and
merciful and forgives our failures, also those of Fatherhood because of
Jesus Christ, His Son, our Savior. He also enables us to improve. To encourage
us to improve and live up to God's ideal Christian father Solomon in this Psalm
also tells of the blessedness of the ideal father.
II. The ideal father generally may expect to enjoy material blessings from the
Lord.
A. He will enjoy the fruit of his labor. (read verse two and explain)
1. His wife will love, honor and serve him (read verse 3a)
2. His children will be a joy and honor to him, not a reason and for tears and
disgrace. (read verse 3b) Each family meal will be a banquet of domestic joys.
Not always, but in general God blesses such a God-fearing father with material
blessings. (verse 4) For sure, God blesses such a father with spiritual riches,
as Solomon plainly tells us in the last verses of this Psalm.
B. (He will certainly enjoy spiritual blessings from the Lord.)
1. Since such a father is a faithful member of the church and attends regularly
he will enjoy blessings of the Gospel Word and Sacraments: forgiveness of sins,
peace with God and his fellow Christians and the hope of the resurrection and
eternal life. Solomon says to such a father: (read verse 5a)
2. Such a God-fearing father will also have the peace and joy of knowing that
his children and grand children will follow him in the one true faith all the
days of their lives here upon the earth and then one day join him in the
glory of heaven. Solomon says in our text: "May you see the prosperity of
Jerusalem and may you see your children's children. Peace upon Israel."
(verse 6)
May God be gracious to all us fathers and help us to be images of Him, our
dear Father in heaven.
Amen.