Gtcotr/ss062109
Key Scripture: Ephesians 6:2 "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise:
Everyone and everything needs a father … it is God’s way!
Each Child
Every Community
All Nations
The Whole World
Every Local Church Family
And even you!
Not every person who claims to be a father is in fact a good father. However, even a good father, even God, cannot keep a child from experiencing difficulties or making bad decisions. But, without a good father, hurting children never get the chance they need to recover themselves from the problems of life.
When God could have portrayed Himself in any image, He chose that of a Father.
Let’s look in the book of Genesis at the very first image God gives us of this God-like creature, the father.
Genesis the first chapter tells the story of a father’s provision.
Genesis 1:1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The following verses reveal God’s work as He creates a safe and secure world into which His family will be born, grow up and live. It is His vision, the vision of a Father, making provision for those He loves, even those who have not been born yet, generations to come.
Everything begins with a father.
Genesis chapter two shows us that a father is not only concerned with current needs but also with the future.
Genesis 2:18 ¶ And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."
God had the future in mind … and He still does …
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Where there are no fathers, there is no future.
It’s in Genesis two that we first read of a home, a family, a community responsibility, a job, and an expectation of a better day.
Genesis 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
The concepts of tending and keeping relate to tilling and protecting. Caring for the current provision and making the earth better for a future season of life.
A father is concerned with both current and future needs … however …
It’s in Genesis the third chapter that we find what is perhaps the most difficult and yet the most crucial responsibility of a father, that of relationship … relationship beyond the disagreements and disappointments of life.
Genesis 3 tells of the disobedience of man and their subsequent fall into sin and separation from God. Adam and Eve disobeyed and disappointed their Father and this brought division. When they lost their relationship, they lost their closeness, their security and their future. They lost sight of their Father, but their Father never lost sight of them.
Genesis 3:21 ¶ Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
What skins do you think God used? What skins were available? The skins of an animal … an animal chosen by God to be sacrificed for man’s sin so that the Father could be restored in relationship to His family … many believe the animal was a lamb.
This act describes the never ending love and devotion of a Father towards those to whom He is a Father, and towards those to whom He hopes to one day become a Father. A father makes the effort and pays the price to open a door of relationship.
So, in light of these elemental truths of God’s Word, let’s look at:
Fifteen Attributes of a Father
A Father is:
1. Patient
2. Kind
3. Secure
4. Humble
5. Courteous
6. Unselfish
7. Temperate
8. More about the future and less about the past
9. Just
10. Truthful
11. Persistent
12. Faithful
13. Hopeful
14. Committed
15. Forever
Perhaps you recognize these attributes. They are listed in
1 Corinthians, Chapter 13, also known as the ‘Love Chapter’. That’s right, the love chapter.
You see, the concept of a father is synonymous with the concept of love. Not just any love, but agape love. The never ending, un-earned, sacrificial, and selfless love and devotion which epitomizes a father made in the image of God.
1 John 4: 8 & 16 tells us that God, our Father is love.
Fathers, in light of this tell me, what should you be? Allow me to read a small portion of:
1 Corinthians 13 NLT
4 ¶ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud
5 or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.
6 It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 ¶ Love will last forever …
Without regard to what gift, talent, job or special ability you have, or none at all, nothing qualifies you to be a father more than love.
* Love for your family
* Love for your community
* Love for your world
* And, Love for God and His Work
Remember:
* Nothing begins without a father
* Where there are no fathers, there is no future
* A father loves at all times
Can’t you see … God made it this way … Your family needs you, your community needs you, the whole world needs you, God needs you and so does the Church … Come on guys … Be a father!
