A Father's Character

Introduction

Introduce self

Dismiss kids

connection point: Baptisms, fathers day

dad jokes:

Father’s day is a great day to celebrate dads and also a time to celebrate the things we love about dads.

I met a guy recently that wasn’t a father yet and he told me how much he loved dad jokes....I asked him “Doesn’t that make you a faux pa?”

Seriously though, great to have such a mix of people from Bristol in our church. The Osenkowski family that puts on lights on rosewood to raise money for charity attends here. Rob and Lori just got back from Hawaii becuase of the national contest they won for their house. I know they had a great a trip however I’m suprrised the didn’t get arrrested. Yea, they are always a happy and funny couple. But in hawaii don’t allow you to laugh to loudly, they only allow a low ha

OK, ok…sorry.

On Mothers Day we looked at a mothers compassion and today I want to speak to you on the topic of a fathers character. By examining a fathers Character we will see The Fathers Character and also understand the importance of our own character as it relates to our children and others around us.

We are going to do this by looking at the charcter of a Man After God that is often looked at for his suffering and while most of our information about him pertains to that, the first 5 verses set up our understanding of him and why the devil wanted to attacck him.

His name is Job.

And through these first few verses of the book that bares his name in the old Testament, we are going to see A Fathers characcter defined, developedd, and deliverd.

Let’s read all 5 verses from Job 1:1-5 and then dive in

Job 1:1-5 “1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. 2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. 4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.”

Let’s first look at a

I. A Father’s Character Defined

Exegete:

An often unknown or overlooked idea about the book of Job is that it is considered to be the first book of the bible written and Moses is the most likely author.

This is a literal story about a man and not allegorical or a fable.

This man Job has got some pretty great words shared about him.

To be perfect and upright means to be a man of complete integrity and I don’t know how many of you eschew things but to eschew evil means to turn away from it. He was the greatest man, and ti was jobs regular practice to sacrifice to God and pray for his children.

Good guy right?

Now we think he is a good guy becuase of the trraits we know about him. We can call those his character traits.

Illustrate:

The word character comes from a greek word tha sound something like “charicature” and that word dexcribes a tool that would be used to chizel out or make an imprint in stone.

It has developed over time into two primary definitions:

the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.

a person in a novel, play, or movie.

We hear the word used to desccribe a person or when there is a peron in a film you may hear people say “I love him playing that charaacter” But thats just a persona and not who the real person is.

I mean Bruce willis didn’t blow up an asteroid or fall from a skyscraper, mel gibson did win the revolutionary war, and Keanu Reeves did bend space time in the matrix. Sorry to burst your bubble.

But we know those men by the characters they play becuase they have made an imprint or impact on us.

Apply:

Your character is what makes an imprint or impact on those around you. Which is why its important for yoyu fathers and any beleivers here to understand what characteristic makes a biblical man, a man after God.

For Job, there are three words I’d like to use to describe him: Integrity, Spirituality, and Communication.

Those three traits can encompass much: Like your conduct, your faith, your love, your speech, and your purity.

For simplisities sake, we are going to join those together in three today and I’m going to ask you: do people know you in a positive sense by your integrity, your psirituality, and your communication?

We are all known for something right? And we are all known for something different in differetn peoples stories.

The boss who fires a guy is the bad guy in that mans story but for the man he hired in his place he is the hero for giving him the job.

the question in both instances isn’t just the actions that the boss took but also how he took them.

That’s your character.

Some common things dads are known for: grilling, sleeping, and working on cars. Broad brush but true.

However I’m known for grilling meidum rareish burgers. Some of you are known for grilling or smoking amazing food. Like Tony.

Some of you can sleep with the best of em. Anytime, anywhere, you can knock out. Ever had a dad like that? They re so good at it they do it with their eyes closed.

Dads are usually the ones that work on cars. However, how Eddie works on a car being an experienced mechanic looks a lot different than how I work on a car. I change oil, rotate tires, and change brakes. He can tear your motor apart and rebuild it on his own.

Your character isn’t just the actions you take, it’s how you take the actions.

Job was a man of integrity because of how he conducted himself, he was a man of spirtiuality becuase of how he approachced God, he was known for his communnication because he was open and transparent about all of these things. Too many men are known to be the strong and silent type when we need to be the meek and megaphone type when it comes to the thing of God.

What if those things don’t define you though? What if you are a person that isn’t honest, ddoesn’t have a strong relationship wtih God, and doesn’t communicate the truth to others?

Well, your in luck.

II. A Father’s Character is developed

Exegete:

We don’t know much if anything really about Job prior to the event of this book. but there is a man we know much of prior to his conversion and that is the Apostle Paul.

Paul was a man that persecuted christians, encouraged others to martyr cchristians, and he himself killedd them.

He was not a nice man. Yet as believers we primarily focus on Paul as the first missionary that wrote letters to churches about joy from a roman prison, about the importance of following Jesus and his teachings to the church in corinth, or about the gospel to the believers in Rome.

He wasn’t always the man we typically refeer to him as.

How did that happen? His imprint and impact on thosee around him change dbecuase he chose to develop his character.

Illustrate:

Can I be transparent for a minute? There is statement that I hear from time to time and if we are talking in person and depending on the circumstances I may not always address it as dirrecrlt as I’m about to but there is a statement I hear that drives me up the wall.

It’s this “That’s just who I am.”…I think that statement is so anti-gospel that I’d like to remove it from every christians dictionary.

If we were meant ot just be who we are then why do we read in the Bible that

2 Cor 5:17 “17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Or in the Old Testament

Ezekiel 36:26 “26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”

If you are a believer in Jesus and say things like “that’s just who I am.” then how do you reconcile your statement with these verrses?

If we were meant to stay just who we were, then why do we have terms like sanctifiction to describe the rpocess of growth of abeliever as they develop.

Imagine if your kid without any mental disbilities is 12 years old and isn’t potty trained. Why would they do that? Well that’s just who they are.

It’s no different than a man who follows Jesus that doesn’t seek to develop himself in Christ being a believer for 1-5-10-20 or more years not growing in their faith, not growing in their integrity, not growing in their willingness and ability to communicate the truth of God’s word to others just standing there in there own mess saying “Well, that’s just who I am.”

I don’t want to be a man that stands in my own mess for the rest of my life. I want to be a man that pursues Jesus and allows him to change me from who I am to who he made me to be.

Apply:

That’s something each of us can do. We have to understand that it happens over time and it happens daily.

It’s in the small choices that we make as we go about our day that our character or our imprint is made on people.

As followers of Jesus it’s the decisions we make to choose to yield to the Holy Spirit throughout the day that allow us to grow in our character.

You know something about this that I didn’t expect? Something that caught me off guard as I started growing as a follower of Jesus?

It felt weird to obey the Holy Spirit. When I say wierd, i mean what you mean, different. It was as though I was acting as someone else and not my self becuase it wasn’t my natural reaction to a situation.

Do you remember when you learned to whistle?

It wasn’t natural for me. (illustrrate by doing)

I would need a whistle to help me (use tool)

Now I could whistle. it was like it wasn’t me though. People who knew me beforee I used my whistle would never think it was me whistling. They knew I couldn’t. Or if they saw me whistle they would say things like “I didn’t know you did that. That’s not something I knew about you.”

And I geet to tell them “It’s not me, it’s this tool I’ve been given to accomplish it.”

And then over time, when I needed to whistle, I would still try on my own. Becuse I had heard the sound and seen others that could whistle do it, and sometimes I’d get it right. Sometimes I’d get it wrong. But eveerytime I ccould look back to what was given to me and see how I was supposed to do it.

You character is changed by the Holy Spirit in the same way.

Before you were saved you found it hard to be humble, forgive, talk about Jesus, and so on. Now that your a saved follower of Jesus you know that God has called you to these things. And you know that if you choose humility, meeekness, or even to walk by fatih in a situation it’s gonna feel different, it’s gonna be like your an imposter, and you may fail at what your doing.

That’s where the Holy Spiriit comes in to provie you with the guidance, direction, and tools if you will to make the right choice.

And as you aree discipled by others, as you yield to the Spirit, and as you keep choosing to grrow your character eventually, what you arre doing becomes apart of who you arre, it becomes a character trait and you will be known by your whistling.

The Bible says eeven a child is known by his doings. Christians, Dads, and everyone else in the room. You are known by your doings, by the imprint you make on others, by the mark you leave on them when you’ve left the room. Be sure to leave a mark that points them to Jesus and doesn’t turn them away from Him.

That’s where my last point for today comes in.

III. A Father’s Character is delivered

Deut 6:5-9 “ 5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

Exegete:

Moses talking to the nation of Israel gives them this instruction about the law that hs been given to them and the principle remains the sme to us today.

Notice who teaches these words? the instruction is ‘teach them dilligently to thy childreen.”

He’s not talking to pastors or priests. He’s not talking to children’s program workers orr anythiing like that. He is speaking to the parents. Moms and dads, it’s on me and you to deliver the Word of God to our kids. It’s on us to set the example they should follow.

You aree making a mark on those around you. NO matter your age, your character is being imprinteed on those around you. Dad’s, what type of character are you imprinting on the ones who should be most important to you?

It starts with the source of your character.

Illustrate:

Have you ever read about something on the internet that is not true?

A few years ago fake news was all the rage. The Babylon bee, which if you don’t follow, please do. It’s hilarious. They took advantage of that and began marketing themselves as fake news you can trust.

While there is a number of reasons we can give for what should be reputable news outlets giving fake news, let’s assume for a minute that they are actually journalist just trying to do their job...

There was a journalist in the 70’s or 80’s that was doing just that. His name was Lee Stroble. Some of you may know him becuase of his book, documentary, and movie titled the Case for Christ.

While he was doing his research to disprove Christianity he was also working on an investigative article into a case that dealt with a cop shooting in Chicago.

He was doing interviews and getting info from people and based on that he published an article that helped convict the shooter.

Turns out he was given wrong information and the paper had to produce retraction.

They had taken their source information and printed the paper, making a mark on the community that read it and who it was about that wasn’t good. Why? Becuase the source wasn’t reliable.

Apply:

Dad’s, when it ccomes to your mark, when it comes to the impact you are going to make on your kids and those around you, you better have the right source.

What is that source? Twitter.

No. It’s the Word of God.

Base your choices on the princciples and truths of scripture even when it feels different or diffiuclt. Let your character be known as one that is above reproach and if it’s not…develop it and work at it.

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