The Country Church Bourbon Indiana

Morning Introduction:
Quote from Charles Haddon Spurgeon on Fatherhood:

“The fathers of the church are men of heart who naturally care for the souls of others. It is upon the father that the weight of the household falls, he goes forth in the morning to his daily labor, and he returns at night with the fruit of his toil for the support of the household. It is not for himself that he lives, but for that dear family which is gathered about him. He is not wholly comprised within his own personal self, for he lives in the entire house; he lives especially in his children. Their suffering or their need would be his suffering and his need. His heart has grown larger than when he was a child or a young man, for now his heart beats in that entire household.”

It is a great honor and responsibility to be a father. It takes laying aside your own emotions, baggage, and desires and becoming a sacrificing servant. Becoming a man who thinks not of himself but of the needs of his family, and who loves them through his actions and his words.

It is no accident that God is called the Father, because the perfect ideal of fatherhood is found in God the Father. This Father’s Day, let’s worship our heavenly Father. And men, let’s seek to be like our heavenly Father. And families, let’s honor, respect, and support our fathers as they pursue godliness.
Prayer

Announcements:
VBS New Pamphlets: Let’s Pray; Why in the World Am I Here; Gospel Here and Now; Strength in Weakness

Introduction:
What do you think of when you think of fatherhood? Any people come to mind?
Concepts? Positive examples? Negative examples?
For some people, father is a comforting term and for some a negative term, depending upon their relationship to their earthly father.
But true fatherhood is an excellent thing. We don’t need to be confused about what it looks like, because God has shown it to us.

Theme: God the Father: The Christian Model of Fatherhood
Six Things: Strength, Provision, Discipline, Forgiveness, Instruction, Love

I. Strength: Deuteronomy 1:30-31
“The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’

God fights for His children and God carries His children.

These words were written in the context of God delivering the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. He punished those who were harming them. He went before them as they left Egypt to guide the way. He stood behind them when the enemy was behind and before when the enemy was before.

And He kept them alive and going and provided for in a wilderness for 40 years.

God is a guardian, a caretaker, a helper, a carrier. Sometimes He personally and directly confronts and overcomes challenges and adversities that are affecting His children.

Other times He carries them through.

Footprints in the Sand

One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand:
one belonging to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him
he looked back, at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of his life
there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it:
“LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you’d walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life
there is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.”

The LORD replied:
“My son, My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you,
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

To try to model this behavior is one of the most serious responsibilities of earthly fathers, but it is so wonderful to mimic God in this way. And though it is hard, it is so rewarding and fulfilling to follow after God’s example in this matter.

Link: God fights for His children. He carries His children. And He provides for His children.

II. Provision: Matthew 7:9-11
*Turn in Bible*

God gives good things to His children.

Mankind is sinful, we know this. We all fall short of the glory of God. But only the most reprobate and malicious of fathers would give their hungry children rocks and snakes instead of what they need. Even sinful fathers know how to give good gifts to their children.

But God is in heaven, seated on a throne of perfection, with an indescribable fatherly love and benevolent care in His heart. And that fatherly love and benevolent care is backed up with the greatest power in the universe: the power that created the universe.

God is able and eager to give His children good gifts: the things they need for life on earth, but even better, the things that are needed for eternal life. And He is able to give them meaning and purpose, and able to give the good fruits of love, joy, gladness, peace, thankfulness. He is able and willing to give the good fruits of life that make life something more than just getting by, the gifts that make life an abundant and joyful experience.

Sinful though mankind is, God has by design put this kind of desire into the hearts of earthly fathers. We don’t have God’s ability, but even sinful earthly fathers have a desire to give and see the best for their children. It is a good desire, one that fathers should embrace and nurture, because when fathers provide for their families and show them that benevolent fatherly love and care, they are modelling the behavior of God the Father.

Link: But because, just like their parents, children are sinful: being a father requires more than giving gifts. It also requires giving discipline.

III. Discipline: Hebrews 12:5-11
*Turn in Bible*

God disciplines His children.

In modern theories of parenting and fatherhood, discipline is something that is being neglected and even in some circles is questioned and attacked.

But the Bible, when talking about God the Father, it says that He does discipline His children. And the discipline of the Lord is such a trustworthy expectation, that the writer of Hebrews says that if you never experience the discipline of the Lord when you do wrong, then you aren’t a child of God.

Because God the Father disciplines His children.

*Read verse 8*

Discipline is such a crucial element of fatherhood that children who do not receive discipline are as if they did not have a father. So if we are to model our fatherhood after God, then our fatherhood must include discipline.

But notice what sets apart the discipline of the Lord from your typical fatherly discipline.

*Read verse 10*

Earthly fathers discipline as it seems best to them. But our Heavenly Father disciplines us for our good – that we may share his holiness. The subtle difference is that for most earthly fathers, discipline is a subjective exercise: as seems best, but that discipline might not actually be for the best and might not be for their good. The motivation is that it would be, but good motivations don’t necessarily make good discipline.

Our Heavenly Father, on the other hand, objectively and correctly and always disciplines for our good and it is so that we would share in His holiness. And that discipline goes on to yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Here again, earthly fathers should seek to model the example of our perfect Heavenly Father: the goal of a father’s discipline should be for the good of the child and so that they can become holy and enjoy the peaceful fruit of righteousness. As much as earthly fathers are able, they should seek to move past the subjective “seems best” and into the definite “is best.”

We will forever lack God’s perfect ability and wisdom. However, we have on hand God’s perfect Word to give guidance to our fatherhood. Through learning about God’s good and perfect will by reading the Bible, and making the goals of their fatherhood more and more the same as God’s goals, fathers are able to move out of “seems best” discipline and into “for the good” discipline.

Link: God disciplines His Children. And God forgives His children.

IV. Forgiveness: Luke 15:11-24
*Turn in Bible*

God forgives His children and welcomes them home.

Every one of us has been a child at some time in their life. And children inevitably do something that is shaming to their parents, whether that be small things like an outburst in a grocery store or a really big thing like what the young man in this parable does.

When people wrong us or take advantage of us or embarrass us, as this young man does to his father in this parable, it can be easy to break off our relationship with them. Or to find some way to get back at them. Or make them go through a painful series of tasks to earn their way back into our favor.

But that’s not what God the Father does to His children. God is so astoundingly forgiving and gracious to people who treat Him so badly, that it is shocking honestly. Later in the story, which we’ll touch on in a bit, we can see the father’s older son being just shocked and offended by this total and unconditional forgiveness of a worthless son.

But God the Father really loves His children and is extremely glad to see people repent of their sins and come running back to Him. They are received back with forgiveness and unconditional love.

This too is something that God has put into the hearts of fathers. A good father loves their child and is ready to forgive them and welcome them back with open arms. When a father forgives and embraces their child, they are being like their Father in heaven.

Link: That’s not the end of the story though. It’s beautiful and heartwarming, but more goes into good fathering than forgiveness.

V. Instruction: Luke 15:25-32

God corrects and instructs His children.

That’s what the older son in this story needed. His father needed to teach him some things about forgiveness and restoration and the gladness and celebration that should come when a person repents. We shouldn’t be angry when someone who was dead comes to life, or when someone who was lost is found. We should rejoice and be glad. But instead the older son has jealousy.

In this parable we see the father instructing his older son in this. Actually, one of the primary reasons that Jesus gave this parable was to instruct the scribes and Pharisees who were behaving like the older son in this story: they were upset and offended that sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors were being forgiven and welcomed home by God. The parable is to teach them and us of God’s unconditional forgiveness.

But we also see in this how God, as a good father, instructs His children. He tells us what is right and the way we should go. He corrects us when we are wrong. He teaches us from His word – just like in this parable.

So also fathers ought to do for their children. In fact, I encourage you to take a look sometime at who is writing the book of proverbs and who they are writing it to. The book of wise instruction is written from a father to his son. When fathers take time out of their day to instruct and correct their children, they are being like their Father in Heaven, and it is a wonderful thing.

Link: One more thing we can learn today from God our model of fatherhood is about His love.

VI. Love: 1 John 3:1a
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

Tying the strength, provision, discipline, forgiveness, instruction together. Tying all of these things together is the love of God for us. Why provide? Why discipline?

Because God loves us. All of these are loving deeds.

Conclusion:
Strength
Provision
Discipline
Forgiveness
Instruction
Love