Father's Day 4
“GLIMPSES OF FATHERHOOD!”
Father’s Day – 2007
Selected Passages
Pastor Robby Roberson
June 17, 2007
Show: Dad Quotes Video
“…the glory of children are their fathers”
(Proverbs 17:6-KJV).
Oh, there is something about a dad! Some aren’t too sure of his value:
“The kids had talked mom into getting a hamster. They promised to take care of their pet, whom they named ‘Danny.’ Within two months, though, mom was taking care of Danny. One day mom decided enough was enough; Danny would be given to a new owner. She called the kids together to tell them. One child said, ‘I’ll miss him. He’s been around here a long time.’ The other child remarked, ‘Maybe he could stay if he ate less and wasn’t so messy.’ Mom was firm, ‘It is time to take Danny to a new home.’
‘Danny?’ the kids wailed, ‘We thought you said Daddy!’”
Others are certain that he is the best. You may have heard about:
“Three boys in the schoolyard were bragging about who had the better father:
The first boy says, ‘My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, and they give him $100.’
The second boy says, ‘That’s nothing. My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, and they give him $1000.’
The third boy says, ‘My dad is even better than that. He scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a sermon, and it takes 6 or 8 men just to collect all the money!’”
1. FATHERHOOD INVOLVES INSTRUCTION.
“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction…” (Proverbs 1:8-NIV).
In essence, that is what this book is – a father’s instruction to his son (see also: 2:1; 3:1; 4:1; 5:1; 7:1; etc.).
2. FATHERHOOD INVOLVES REPRESENTATION (4:10-19).
“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children” (Ephesians 5:1-NIV).
“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1-NIV).
“He didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it” (Clarence Budington Kelland).
“I talk and talk and talk, and I haven’t taught people in 50 years what my father taught by example in one week” (Mario Cuomo).
Play: She Was Watching (Mark Schultz)
3. FATHERHOOD INVOLVES INTERVENTION (1:23-27).
“So you’ve decided to have a child. You’ve decided to give up quiet evenings with good books and lazy weekends with good music, intimate meals during which you finish whole sentences, sweet private times when you’ve savored the thought that just the two of you and your love are all you will ever need.
You’ve decided to turn your sofas into trampolines and to abandon the joys of leisurely contemplating reproductions of great art for the joys of frantically coping with reproductions of yourselves Why?
Poets have said the reason to have children is to give yourself immortality; and I must admit I did ask God to give me a son because I wanted to carry on the family name. Well, God did just that and I now confess that there have been times I’ve told my son not to reveal who he is. ‘You make up a name,’ I’ve said. ‘Just don’t tell anybody whose son you are’” (Bill Cosby, Fatherhood).
“His father had never interfered with him by asking, ‘Why do you behave as you do?’” (1 Kings 1:6-NIV).
Eli is asked by the Lord, “Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel” (1 Samuel 3:29)?
4. FATHERHOOD INVOLVES CORRECTION.
“Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death” (Proverbs 19:18-NIV).
“Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul” (Proverbs 29:17-NIV).
“He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him” (Proverbs 13:24-NIV).
“Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him” (Proverbs 22:15-NIV).
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death” (Proverbs 23:13-14-NIV).
“The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother” (Proverbs 29:15-NIV).
The father who lives out this characteristic reflects God Himself (see Hebrews 12:6ff.). “If you will study this passage carefully you will discover that God only chastens those who are his children…if you are sinning and getting by, then you are illegitimate and you are not a son” (Jerry Vines, Family Fellowship, pg. 61).
“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years” (Mark Twain).
5. FATHERHOOD INVOLVES COMMENDATION.
“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” Proverbs 16:24-NIV).
“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person…he believed in me” (Jim Valvano).
6. FATHERHOOD INVOLVES COMPASSION.
“…love covers over all wrongs” (Proverbs 10:12b-NIV).
“And live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2-NIV).
Show: A Father’s Love video
“The Ultimate Father already thinks you are worth dying for!”