The Godly Father (2)

The Godly Father

Introduction

· Just as we learned about Godly mothers on mother’s day, Godly fathers are invaluable, an essential presence in children’s lives.

· Both mothers and fathers have a great responsibility in raising their kids.

· Each have a defined roles in raising children, particularly in raising them to be disciples of Jesus.

· Today, we will discover a Godly father’s role in this endeavor.

To begin, I want to read Luke 15:11-24, “The parable of the prodigal son”

· This parable represents God’s attitude and actions towards sinners; God’s love, compassion, mercy, and grace.

· A brief definition of a parable is a story that reveals Biblical truths.

· The parable is in versus 11-32.

· However, in the context of father’s day, we will only look at versus 11-15.

Luke 15:11-24

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Exegesis

· Again, the parable represents God’s attitude and actions towards sinners.

· The human father represents God and the son represents sinners.

· Let’s take a deeper look into these versus to help us understand and apply what we’ve read.

VS 15:12-13-The son’s actions

· We learn that the son is greedy and impatient.

· And in 13, he relies on being self-sufficient and self-reliant to live his life his own way.

· Don’t our kids at some point in time think they know better than us and demand to live the way they want to live?

· As we learned from Proverbs, the son chooses the path of the wicked and the fool rather than the path of wisdom and righteousness.

VS 15:14-16

· We now see the consequences from the previous versus.

· In the midst of his circumstance, he decides to fix the problem himself, to solve the problem his way.

· Ironically, he is using the same self-sufficiency and self-reliance that got him there in the first place.

· This is the dire condition and circumstance that we all experience because of sin.

VS 15:17

· He finally realizes he can’t save himself no matter what he tries.

· He realizes he needs outside help to save him from his circumstance.

· He humbles himself and came to his father.

· Notice he comes to his father with nothing.

· We too come to God with nothing, nothing to offer at all.

VS 15:18-19, 21

· To add to his humility, he realizes his sin.

· He decides to confess and repent of this sin to his father.

· He also comes to the realization that he is unworthy of forgiveness, even unworthy to be called his father’s son.

· Even so, he turns his face to his father and goes to him.

VS 15:20-24

· The parable now shifts its focus from the son’s actions to the father’s response.

· Full of love, compassion, mercy, and grace, he sees his son and runs to him.

· Even though his son rejected him, turned away from him, his father never forsake his son.

· He is full of forgiveness rather than rejection and condemnation.

· He receives his sinful son with open arms and has a celebration for his return.

· A celebration because his son who was dead is now alive, was lost and now is found.

· The father’s response is the beautiful picture of God’s response when a sinner confesses and repents of their sin giving their life over to Christ.

Well let’s now focus on how this parable relates to us as parents, particularly fathers.

· We can speculate that the father in the story was deeply hurt and saddened by his son’s actions.

· I’m sure there was worry and constant prayers for his safety and well-being.

· Just because his son left didn’t mean he didn’t stop loving him.

· As parents, we have similar emotions when our children go astray.

· As father’s, we have innate or build in characteristics within us that produce our emotions for our kids, both positive and negative.

· It’s because we are made in the image of God and He is our ultimate Father when we come to faith in Jesus.

· God’s unconditional love for us as His adopted children produce the same love we have for our children.

· As hard as it is, as parents there are times in which we must let our kids go their own way, even when we know it’s wrong and know the consequences they will experience.

· We do this so they learn their decisions and sin have repercussions.

· As fathers, we must make these tough decisions despite the pain it causes us.

I want to now turn to the roles of a Godly father and the characteristics they exhibit

The primary responsibility of a father is to know and teach God’s Word to our kids.

· To teach them to embrace God as their Heavenly Father.

· To train them up in the way they should go in the path of wisdom and righteousness that can lead them to a saving faith in Jesus.

· To teach them what it looks like to be a disciple of Christ through our actions.

So what are the qualities and characteristics of a Godly Father.

A Godly father:

1. Knows God as revealed in his study of Scripture.

2. Accepts his responsibility for their children’s spiritual training.

Ephesians 6:4

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

3. Loves and honors his wife.

· This teaches our children what a Biblical marriage looks like and how to treat our wives.

Ephesians 5:25

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

4. Never loses his sight of the influence he has on their kids.

· Our actions speak louder than words.

5. Models selfless service and sacrifice for his family and others.

6. Disciplines their children appropriately.

· Again, train you child up in the way they should go.

7. Stands firm in the faith not influenced by the world.

· Doesn’t change his perspectives, morals, and values as the world is constantly doing.

8. Shows himself to live under God’s authority.

1 Corinthians 11:3

3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ.

9. Leads his family in wisdom and righteousness through the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.

Josua 24:15

But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

10. Exhibits God’s love and forgiveness towards all.

· This is what we saw in the parable of the prodigal son.

Application

These Godly qualities and characteristics seem almost impossible to exhibit

· So what can we do to grow in them as fathers?

1. First and foremost is the realize that they are in fact impossible in and of ourselves.

· It only is possible through the indwelling Holy Spirit working in us when we come to faith in Jesus.

2. If our primary role as a father is to know and teach God’s Word:

· Regular time in God’s Word is absolutely essential.

· We can’t teach what we don’t know

· Now I know I sound like a broken record regarding this.

· I would rather not talk to you as the author of Hebrews does.

Hebrews 5:11-6:1

11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

6 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ.

· As long as I am your pastor, you’ll be hearing that record played often.

· I care too much about your faith and relationship with Christ not to.

3. I encourage you fathers to take time to read the first 9 chapters of Proverbs.

· They go into depth regarding a father’s instruction to their kids to live on the path of wisdom and righteousness along with the benefits when they do.

· In fact, since we are learning about discipling each other as the church body, I encourage you meet together and study these chapters.

· It can help us be accountable for being in Scripture.

· It also helps build each other up as fathers, to learn from each other’s experiences and insights based on what the Scripture teaches.

· Know also that I am more than willing to meet with you to study and learn what a Godly father looks like based on God’s design for raising our children.

· Actually, this offer is for anybody in any area of Scripture.

Prayer