Dad's Who Make A Difference

A physician and his 4 year old son were in the car on the way to preschool. The doctor/father had left his stethoscope on the car seat, and his little boy picked it up and began playing with it. "That’s my boy," thought the father, "my son wants to follow in my footsteps!" Then the child spoke into the instrument: "Welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order?"”

We live in an age when “Father’s Day” conjures up a plethora of thoughts and emotions

I recognize that some may be here who are not fathers and mothers and struggle every year with these special days dedicated to parents

I also recognize that there may be some here who carry this heavy backpack of the past and do not have a good memory of your father for some reason or another.

There are also some here that have wonderful memories of their father.

Some may even have a mixed bag of thoughts and emotions.

Regardless of your experience with your father, it is undeniable that the impact a father has on his family is enormous.

“Fatherlessness” is an epidemic that is flooding our culture.

But here’s something else to think about, it is possible for the dad to still be in the home and the children will grow up fatherless.

What do I mean by that?

Dads have been given the responsibility to impact their children for eternity. The dads that choose to minimize that responsibility, or worse yet, ignore it, have left their children fatherless.

I know that sounds harsh, but we need to do a reality check here this morning.

If you were to survey 100 dads and ask them what is your goal as a father in raising your children, (what is one thing you hope your children learn from you) would you get the same answer from every dad?

Some would say they hope their children learn…

to be successful adults”; “good people”; “hard working”; “ have strong character”; “professional athlete” the list goes on and on.

How many of those 100 fathers would say their goal as a dad was to raise their children to love God with all their heart, mind and soul?

There is nothing inherently wrong with dads having those other goals for their children. But are those goals the ultimate goal we want for our children?

Now let me ask you a very sobering question.

What happens to your children if they enter eternity never discussing with you, or seeing it modeled, the importance of a genuine relationship with God?

How much time do you think you have left to make a difference in their lives that really matters?

The tragic events over the last few weeks are a grim reminder that you and your children are just one heartbeat away from eternity.

What happens then? Will all those other goals make a difference when they are ushered into the presence of a Holy God?

Now before you get up and walk out on me today thinking what a downer this guy is, let me tell you there is hope.

It is never too late to begin making an eternal difference in the lives of your children.

Even if you think you have blown it…there is not a dad in this building who hasn’t blown it…you can still make a difference with whatever time God allows you.

Forgiveness and grace are readily available to all of us.

Our text of Deut. 6 was written to children whose dads had blown it.

Their dads were “epic” failures when it came to doing what God wanted them to do.

Their dads knew exactly what God wanted them to do and they chose not to do it.

Fifteen centuries before Christ, God rescued two million Hebrew slaves from bondage in Egypt and led them towards the Promised Land.

Sad to say, most of them never made it because they refused to trust and obey God.

Consequently they incurred God’s judgment and perished…they left their children fatherless.

Every person in the nation over twenty years of age fell dead in that wilderness as the nation wandered around for the next forty years.

And then God delivered this message. He sent it through Moses to that second generation of Israelites, to the kids who survived the wilderness and grew up.

Right before they entered the Promised Land, Moses gave them the message we call Deuteronomy (which means “the second law”).

Main Idea: Dads (men) who want to make an eternal difference make God their priority.

In this passage we discover a clear description of God’s kind of men.

God’s man…the father of distinction…is a man who exhibits two passions.

What we’re about to hear from God’s Word is for women, too.

But God designed men to be the pacesetters, and as such they are to model these two passions for all to see.

The implications are to all people…but specifically the dads…the ones most responsible for the spiritual direction of the home.

Dads who want to make a difference are men who have a passion for God (4-5).

Deut 6:4-5 ““Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

How can you tell if you have a passion for God?

Very few people would say, “I don’t love God.”

But loving God isn’t some sentimental thing.

It’s very tangible and even measurable.

Right here Moses identified two prerequisites for loving God.

You must know Him (4).

Love and knowledge go hand in hand.

You can’t really love someone you don’t know.

Moses said, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

What do people who truly love God know about Him?

1. He is a redeeming God.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Moses twice uses God’s covenant name, Yahweh

Who is our God?

Yahweh is the covenant making and covenant keeping God.

In Exodus 3:14-15 “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.”

That’s who God is, dear ones. He is Yahweh.

He is the self-existent One who took the initiative to enter into a relationship with Abraham and his descendants.

When He saw the Israelites in their bondage, He took action to rescue them.

He did the same with us, did He not?

Ephesians 2:1 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.”

Rom 5:6 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Yes, our God is a redeeming God.

Indeed, you cannot love Him until you know Him as your Redeemer

2. He is a personal God.

“The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

God is personal.

He makes it possible for His people to know Him personally.

Indeed, you cannot love God if your knowledge of Him is second hand.

3. He is unique.

“The LORD our God, the LORD is one”

The word “one” expresses both His unity and uniqueness.

You can’t believe that there are many gods, you can’t live in service to other gods, even if you say the Lord is the greatest, and be right with Him.

Christianity isn’t merely adding Jesus to your life.

To be right with the Creator God you must acknowledge that He alone is the Lord.

Do your priorities as a dad teach your children the priority of God?

We need men today who will affirm this plainly and boldly, with their lips and lives.

Men, our beliefs do matter.

Faith is not subjective...Contrary to what culture says, I do not have the freedom to believe whatever I want to believe about God.

No. That is idolatry.

The God who exists, the only God, is a redeeming, personal, and unique God.

In order to love Him you must know Him.

Another way to show you love God is…

You must give Him your all (5).

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

If you really love Him you will express your devotion to Him.

Notice how comprehensive true love for God is.

Love Him how?

“With all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

God despises dead, external ritual.

The One who gave us all we have desires we love him with all we have.

He’s not interested in barren legalism.

How does this look practically?

Loving God with all we have means we recognize that worshipping God is not an activity on Sunday, it is a lifestyle of choices that glorify Him.

Loving God with all you have means you recognize all you have is on loan to you from God, including your family, and you are required to be a faithful steward of your family.

Loving God with all you have means you give Him His rightful place in your lives, you are committed to Him alone, you desire to please, serve, and exalt Him alone.

God makes it very clear what He wants from all his people.

Deuteronomy 10:12–13 NASB95

“Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

Are you loving Him when you give Him the leftovers from your life?

We need men who have this basic, life-consuming passion.

Our families need men who are committed to loving God with everything they have, making every effort to please God at every turn, not out of obligation, but out of a heart that has been genuinely changed.

Men, is there any question in the minds of your wife and children and grandchildren about what your greatest passion is?

I didn’t ask if you were perfect.

I’m talking about your passion, what drives you.

Do those who know you well see that loving and pleasing God is more important to you than anything?

Do your work associates see it?

How about the guys you golf with or coach with?

Maybe it’s not been true. If you’ll admit it today, things can change.

That’s what the cross is all about.

Jesus Christ died in our place so we can live the kind of life God desires for us…so we can point others to Him.

Will you resolve this day, by the grace of God to be a man who loves God supremely?

Let me pause for just a moment and talk to the rest of you…

What are you doing to encourage your dads (husbands) to be this kind of person? If you are expecting your dad (husband) to be perfect…stop it.

Stop beating him up about it…be patient…love him anyway…let your words be seasoned with grace…

What about those dads who are doing their best to be this kind of person? Are you thankful for them? Are you only thankful for them on Father’s day? Are you following his leadership?

There’s a second passion that Moses identified in the rest of Deuteronomy 6.

Dads (men) who want to make a difference have a passion for God’s Word (6-25).

To love God is to love His Word

It is his means of communicating to us.

If we love him, we will obey Him.

When God gave His people Deuteronomy, He was giving them tangible instructions so they would know how to love God and others.

How can I know if I really love God’s Word?

You must make it a priority in your personal life (6).

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.”

Before you can teach them to your children, they must be true and real to you.

Your heart is like a treasure chest. It’s where you store away your thoughts, beliefs, and feelings—the thoughts, beliefs, and feelings that determine your values and choices in life.

The Jews had God’s speech on stone tablets, but Moses said that wasn’t enough.

We have the complete canon of Scripture in the form of ink on paper, but that’s not enough either.

You can have ten Bibles in your house, but the question remains...Is the Word of God on your heart?

It’s not enough to have a Bible on your desk.

It’s not even enough even to have it in your memory bank—you can be able to quote the Bible from cover to cover and yet not have it on your heart.

When God’s Word is on your heart then when it comes to making decisions you will want to know what God says about that decision…or if you already know…that decision will fit within the parameters of God’s Word and you will reject those choices that don’t.

Men, if we treasure the Book, if we love God’s Word we will make it priority in our personal lives.

You must make it priority in your family (7-9).

Moses continued, “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Men, we need to give our families God’s Word striving to instill in them that it is the only source of truth that can be trusted…it is what God uses to shape our thinking…to mold our hearts…to change our behavior

How should we do it?

1. Teach them what it says (7a).

“Impress them on your children.” The KJV says “teach them diligently unto.”

Impress – teach them diligently -- to repeat, iterate, or do a thing again and again; hence, to whet or sharpen any instrument, which is done by reiterated friction or grinding.

The implication then is this is not an easy task, nor is it always pleasant.

It takes patience, sound judgment, love, continual teaching.

God expects parents—especially dads to lead the way—to make sure their children learn what God thinks and says.

Don’t just expose your kids to God’s Word…Impress it upon their hearts…Show them the value and relevance of what God says.

2. Show them how it works (7b).

The second part of verse 7 gives very specific guidance, “Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

It’s one thing to talk about the Bible in a Sunday School room, and that’s great. It’s another thing to talk about it when you’re sitting at home, or driving to the ballgame, or before you pray next to your child’s bed.

That’s what Moses said to do: talk about God’s Word at home, along the road, and when you’re lying down and getting up.

In other words, show your family not only what God’s Word says, but also how it works in the real world in real time.

What do your kids (and grandkids) see you do when your team loses the game because of a questionable call,or when you pass a suggestive billboard, or when you come home from a bad day at the job? Do they see God’s Word if your life then?

3. Give them reminders (8).

What kind of reminders?

Moses said to take God’s Word and tie it to the hand and forehead.

Some Jews to this day do that literally by using phylacteries, leather pouches containing Scriptures attached to the body.

What would happen if you tied verses to your hand and forehead?

God’s Word would go with you wherever you went, and that’s the point.

We need reminders so the Word will be integrated into daily life.

“On the doorframes of your houses,” says Moses.

wallhangings, Posters. Cards on the refrigerator. A placard on your desk. Give your family members reminders.

4. Apply it to real life (9).

Verse 9 talks about putting the Word on your doorframes and gates.

Doors and gates are what you walk through when you leave your home and head out into the world.

It’s a vile world out there, isn’t it?

But guess what can keep us pure? God’s Word can.

What’s the last thing we need before we venture out to “the real world?”

We need a reminder of what God said.

This is so practical.

Men, do you talk with your family members about the real life issues they’re facing?

Every time we leave our houses we enter a corrupted culture that must be confronted with the Word of God.

Our kids—not to mention us as parents—are facing sexual temptation, materialism, and warped values of success every time they leave the front door.

Are you making sure your family is finding out what God says about those issues before they confront them?

But pastor, I don’t have children at home anymore…it is too late for me.

Men once you are a dad…does that title ever leave you?

Just because you don’t have children at home that does not mean your responsibility to live by the Word of God in every fashion has been abolished.

Non-dad’s…our world needs to see men who face the corruption of the world with strength and honor and a knowledge of God’s Word that stands out!

The question is, what kind of impression are you making?

Is the Bible only for children?

Do our wives and children and grandchildren know that we love God and His Word?

Do they see you spending time with God?

Do they hear you seeking God’s will in prayer before you make significant family decisions?

There’s one more area of responsibility that Moses addressed that day. People who love the Word make it a priority, first in their own lives, then in their families. Thirdly.

You must make it priority in your future (10-25).

In the remainder of the chapter Moses gave three charges to God’s people, each relating to what they would do with God’s Law in the future.

I just want to mention these charges, read what he said, and encourage you to develop it at a later time.

1. Remember the One who redeemed you (10-12).

Don’t forget where you came from. And don’t forget who gave you the blessings you now enjoy. Remember your Redeemer.

2. Fear and serve God alone (13-19).

Men, the gods of this world are calling for your attention and devotion, but you must resist them.

Job. Car. Boat. Education. Sports & Leisure, Your children. Your house.

Do not follow other gods. If you really love God’s Word, you’ll fear and serve Him alone.

3. Keep reminding your children why God gave His Law (20-25).

“Notice that phrase, “When your son asks,” and Moses’ exhortation, “Tell him.”

Don’t miss that. Men, your kids will ask, and your job is to tell them.

Tell them what? What to do, yes, but also why .

Moses says, “Tell them, we were slaves but the Lord brought us out of bondage and gave us this land. That’s why we need to obey Him.”

“Dad, why do we have to go to church today? My baseball team has a game today.

“Dad, all the kids from school will be there. Can I go to the party?”

Men, let’s not waste these teachable moments with a, “Just because I said so.”

Listen to Moses. When your son asks, tell him why.

Son, we were slaves to sin and still would be slaves, but Jesus set us free. He died a terrible death to give us a new life, and it’s a different kind of life than we used to live and many of your friends at school still live.

We don’t obey God just because we have to. It’s a privilege to obey the person who died for us.

So miss church today to play baseball? Would that please Him, according to Hebrews 10:25...“not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

Go to a party where ungodliness is clearly evident? Let’s take a look at 1 John 2:15-16 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

Dads (and moms too), God didn’t give the church the job to prepare your kids for life. He certainly didn’t give it to the school either.

He gave the primary responsibility to us.

It’s our privilege to teach them, and two lessons of which we must remind them over and over are the same two Moses highlighted right here.

We were once slaves, but God set us free to serve Him

At the funeral of Ronald Reagan, his son Michael described the greatest gift a child can receive:

I was so proud . . . to be Ronald Reagan’s son. What a great honor. He gave me a lot of gifts as a child — a horse, a car, a lot of things. But there’s a gift he gave me that I think is wonderful for every father to give every son. . . .

Last Saturday, . . . when he closed his eyes, that’s when I realized the gift that he gave to me, the gift that he was going to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He had, back in 1988 on a flight from Washington, D.C., to Point Mugu, told me about his love of God, his love of Christ as his Savior. I didn’t know then what it all meant. But I certainly, certainly know now.

I can’t think of a better gift for a father to give a son. And I hope to honor my father by giving my son, Cameron, and my daughter, Ashley, that very same gift he gave to me. I know where my father is this very moment; that he is in heaven. I can only promise my father this: “Dad, when I die, I will go to heaven, too. And you and I and my sister, Maureen, who went before us, will dance with the heavenly host of angels before the presence of God. We will do it melanoma- and Alzheimer’s-free.”

— Associated Press, “Reagan’s Children’s Eulogy Remarks,” USA Today(June 12, 2004)

Life Step – Make a Difference With A Godly Distinction

We don’t need great men. We need faithful men whose lives exhibit the greatness of God.

So come to Him today. Ask Him to give you a passion for Himself and a passion for His Word.

He’s a redeeming and personal God who sent His Son to rescue sinners like you and me.

Love Him supremely.

God needs to be the priority in your personal life, in your family, and in all you do in the future.

The Dads (men & women too!) who make an eternal difference are the ones who are not ashamed to passionately pursue their Heavenly Father.