MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
Revised: 2015
(Powerpoints used with this message are available for free. Just email me at mnewland@sstelco.com and request #107.)
Today we're celebrating "Father's Day." Some years ago I read an interesting story entitled, "The Day That God Created Fathers." It goes like this:
ILL. On the day that God created fathers an angel of the Lord stood in the background & watched. "Lord," the angel asked, "are you sure you know what you are doing? If children are so close to the ground, why are you making fathers so high up?"
"After all, they will have to kneel down if they ever shoot marbles with their children. They'll have to lean way over to tuck them into bed at night, & they'll have to bend so far down to kiss them."
The Heavenly Father said, "Don't worry, I know exactly what I'm doing. If I didn't make fathers so high, what would children have to look up to?"
Then the Lord made the hands of a father. They were big & sinewy & awkward. The angel asked, "Have you really thought this through? Those fingers are so big & clumsy. How will they be able to handle the pins of a diaper or unbutton a little button? They will never be able to take a rubber band off of a ponytail, or remove a splinter from a finger."
God replied, "Relax. They'll be just fine. They're big enough to hold all the things that a young boy takes out of his pocket at the end of the day, & they're large enough to cup the face of a child."
God continued on & He made the legs of a father long & bony & hairy & not very attractive. And then He made broad shoulders.
The angel asked, "Lord, do you realize what you have done? You have just made a father without a lap. How is he ever going to be able to hold a child close to him without that child slipping through his legs?"
God answered, "Mothers need laps, fathers need broad shoulders so that they can pull a sled in the wintertime & balance a bicycle in the summertime, & cradle the sleeping head of a child on the way home from church."
Then, just as God was in the middle of creating two of the biggest feet that you have ever seen, the angel said, "That's not right. Do you really believe those two big feet are going to get up in the middle of the night & respond to a crying child?"
God answered, "They'll work, you'll see. They are big enough to support a father who is pretending to be a horse while his child is riding to an imaginary castle. They're big enough to wear shoes that will be a challenge for any child to fill."
Then God gave the father a voice, strong & authoritative. He gave him eyes that could see everything & yet remain calm & in control. Last of all, God gave the father tears. Then He turned to the angel & asked, "Do you still doubt?" And the angel said no more.
ILL. John Dresser wrote a book titled, "If I Could Do It All Again." In it he shares 8 things that he would do differently if he could go through his years of being a father all over again. Here is what he wrote:
1. "First of all, if I could do it all over again, I would love my wife more, because by loving my children's mother more, I would create an environment of security in our home. Our love would be something they could see something they would never have to worry about."
2. "Second, I would laugh more. I would relax & enjoy my children & laugh at their antics. I would spend more time with them & enjoy being a father."
3. "Third, I would present a more realistic model for my children to follow. I would be honest with them about myself. I would let them know that I had problems in school, too, that I stumbled, & made mistakes, & failed.
"I would let them know that I understand, & that they can come to me when they fail, because I have been there as well."
4. "Fourth, I would listen to what they say. I would listen to their pains & problems & worries & concerns. I would listen when they wanted to talk to me, because now I realize that if I listen to them when they are small, & to their little problems, then when they are big, & have big problems, they will still come & talk with me."
5. "Fifth, I would stop praying so much for my family because a father's prayers so often sound something like this, 'God, make my son & daughter good people. Help them to succeed in school. Help them to find the right person to marry. Take care of & protect them.'
"Instead, I would start praying more for myself, that I might be the right kind of father, realizing that when I become the right kind of father, my children will probably be the right kind of children."
6. "Sixth, I would pay more attention to little things. I would begin to appreciate the touch of love & the word of encouragement. So many times we fathers are quick to criticize their failures, & so slow to praise & encourage them when they do something right."
7. "Seventh, I would create an environment of belonging. I would want my children to know that they belong, & that they are important family members, because I realize that there are going to be people saying to them, 'Join this & join that.' But if they have a solid identity in the home & in the family they will not easily be led astray."
8. "Last, but certainly not least, I would make God an intimate friend of my family. I would use His name freely. I would communicate to them that He is involved in all our family decisions. I would want them to see me pray & read God's Word & search for His direction & leadership." So wrote John Dresser.
Folks, if I had my life to live over again, I think I would try very seriously to improve in those 8 areas, too.
PROP. Well, fathers, what does the Bible have to say about all this? What does the Bible say about our responsibilities as fathers?
I. WE PROVIDE
Well, the scriptures tell us that one of our responsibilities as fathers is to provide. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 5:8, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, & especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
A. We are to provide for them, to make sure that our children have a home, & food to eat, & clothing to wear.
But scripture always teaches that there must be a balance. Sometimes we are so focused on providing things, that we present an unbalanced picture to our children, & the result is that a lot of materialistic monsters have been created.
I'm afraid there are a lot of kids growing up who don't realize that you have to work & earn & save & wait before some of the good things in life become yours to use & enjoy.
I shudder, because I think we're creating people who'll never appreciate the hard work & sacrifice it took to create the nation that they're inheriting, & they'll not be willing to pay the price to keep it right.
God has always provided for His children, but He never provided too much. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, God provided them manna for just one day at a time.
Every morning they would have to go out & collect the manna again. Only on the 6th day did He give them extra so that they wouldn't have to work on the Sabbath.
And God didn't put it in their baskets, either. They had to go out & gather it for themselves. They had to work for it.
SUM. It seems to me that this is a message that needs to be heard today. Yes, we have a responsibility to provide - to make sure that our children have what they need, & also to make sure they appreciate those things, & are ready & willing to go out & work for them when their turn comes.
B. We are also to provide spiritual leadership. Paul writes, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the discipline & instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).
This is another of our responsibilities to provide discipline & instruction & to make sure that we are spiritual leaders in our homes.
If we're not spiritual leaders in our homes, then we're neglecting a very important responsibility God has given to us.
C. We are also to provide an environment where children understand authority in the home & thereby appreciate authority in the world as well. If we do not provide that, we'll end up with a lot of rebels, & there's plenty of evidence of that happening already.
II. WE PROTECT
The 2nd thing fathers must do is protect. Instinctively, almost all of us have those feelings of wanting to hold our families close & to make sure that nothing ever harms them. We want to say to all that is evil & all that could hurt, "You must not come through the door of our house."
ILL. Some of us who are older can recall the James Jones tragedy when hundreds followed him into the jungles of Guyana & ended up drinking kool aid laced with cyanide to commit mass suicide.
Here were mothers who gave cyanide kool aid to their children & watched them die, before drinking it themselves. Successful people, people with money, people with faith, followed James Jones into the jungle to die.
We wonder, "How could people possibly do that?" Well, many were people longing for a father figure who would say that he loved them, an authoritative voice telling them how to live. They were longing for something that had been missing in their lives.
Fathers, ask yourself, "Am I meeting that very basic need for my children so that they'll never be searching for a father figure someplace else?"
Protect them! Make sure that they are being taught the right things. Make sure that their minds are being filled with wholesome truths. Protect them from all the evil & false doctrines that are out there.
Fathers, we are to provide for them & protect them!
III. WE PRAY
Finally, we are to pray. We pray because we're not really sure how to answer all their questions, or solve all their problems, or even how to be a good father, so we pray. We pray that God will help us, & give us wisdom & strength & His guidance.
We pray that we'll be sensitive to what is going on in their lives. We pray that we'll be loving & understanding & all the things that a father has to be. Because, without God's help, I don't see any way that we can be the kind of fathers we need to be.
ILL. Have you ever heard of Brooks Adams, the historian? His father was Ambassador to Great Britain under Abraham Lincoln. Brooks recalled, "The best day of my life when I was growing up was that day when my dad took me fishing. I remember that we talked & spent time together."
Time & time again Brooks recalled that wonderful day when he & his father went fishing together.
Years later, a historian was going through Ambassador Adams' papers & found the dairy in which that day was mentioned. Brooks' father had written, "Went fishing today with my son. The day was wasted."
I wonder how many wasted days have come & gone that were monumental days in the lives of our children, & we never knew? I wonder how many things we were going to do but never got around to doing, that might have changed a life & molded a personality?
APPL. Oh, if I could do it all over again, I would thank God more for those years with my children, for sticky faces, constant questions, toys on the floor, not enough privacy, & for the words, "Daddy, I love you." I would thank God for all of that, & much, much more.
CONCL. Maybe there are some here this morning who long for a father to reach out & love them, & forgive them. Maybe there are some here who have never known that voice of authority, the tender discipline & understanding that only God can provide. Maybe there are some who are still looking for a place to belong.
If so, then I point you to Jesus, my Savior & my Lord. I invite you to know God as your loving heavenly father, who loved you so much that He gave the greatest gift that we could ever receive.
INVITATION
