A Godlike Father

Intro

300 Illustrations for Preachers Children Still Need Fathers

Maria Kefalas is a sociologist who studies marriage and family issues. She is a self-identified feminist who has coauthored a book called Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage. Her research has shown that few things hamper a child as much as not having a father at home. “Women always tell me, ‘I can be a mother and a father to a child,’ but it’s not true.” Growing up without a father has a deep psychological effect on a child. “The mom may not need that man,” Kefalas says, “but her children still do.”

In a culture that is marginalizing fathers, this is an important message. Fathers need to be more than sperm donors; they need to become actively involved in the lives of their children.

—Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Psalm 103:13 CSB

13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) Compassionate

having or showing compassion: SYMPATHETIC

Summarize God’s position as a father who shows compassion and then the earthly fathers responsibility to show compassion. This is 4 sentences in how you describe a father.

Compassion: sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.

Typically, mothers are thought to be nurturing and compassionate, whereas fathers are thought to be exacting and stern. A father, not just a mother, is CAPABLE of compassion. A good father knows when to deal gently and understandingly with his children.

LET US PRAY

Ephesians 6:4 CSB

4 Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

What does it mean to stir up anger?

Does this mean to not discipline your children?

What does it mean to bring a child up?

What is the difference between training and instruction?

Colossians 3:21 NRSV

21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart.

What does the word provoke mean?

What does it mean to lose heart?

What happens to a child if they lose heart?

The commitment of being a real father doesn’t have any limits, it is not an 18 year job. We have two jobs as fathers.

Prepare our boys to become men who can serve as great fathers for their own children later. (bring them up! they should not be boys forever!)

Show our daughters how real men who tenderly love them will treat them by demonstrating that kind of love for their mothers. (most daughters grow up to either look for a man whom they think acts like their dad or who is the very opposite of their dad because they don’t want to be treated like their mother was treated.)

Be a Father Like God

Psalm 103:8–14 CSB

8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. 9 He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. 10 He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. 14 For he knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust.