Sermon Tone Analysis

S. Truett Cathy

“I’m a successful business man – but also I like being known that I’ve been a good father.”

Truett Cathy (Founder of Chick-fil-a)

These are the words of Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-a, during an interview with the Georgia Public Broadcasting Program.

As many of you might be aware, Chick-fil-a is the wealthiest fast-food chain in America right now, with an estimated worth of 14.2 billion dollars.

They are known for making a great chicken sandwich and not being open on Sundays.

Taking Sundays off has been a core commitment from Chick-la-a’s inception.

It comes from a Truett’s Cathy’s love for Christ and for family.

Cathy raised his family to joyfully advance the kingdom of God by making much of Jesus in the church, community, and home.

In his book, “Eat More Chicken: Inspire More People,” Truett Cathy says,

“For us, family, business, and church weren’t separate aspects of our life.

They all blended in together.

Those early experiences shaped our children’s viewpoints about life and work.”

Truett Cathy (Founder of Chick-fil-a)

According to Cathy, Christ is to be honored in everything, especially work and family.

These God-honoring convictions were so deep in his commitment to Christ, Chick-fil-a, and his family, that he implored his eldest son to make a covenant with him protecting the business and the family.

The covenant reads,

"We will be faithful to Christ's lordship in our lives," the covenant began.

"As committed Christians we will live a life of selfless devotion to His calling in our lives."

"We will prayerfully seek His [Christ’s] leadership in all major decisions that impact our family and others.

Our family roles as spouses to our lifelong mates, parents to our children, and loving aunts and uncles will be our priority."

The covenant went on to promise to continue to carry on Chick-fil-A's history of philanthropic work, to never open on Sunday, and to grow conservatively, never taking the company public.

As a father who loves Jesus and is trying to teach his children to love Jesus, Truett Cathy stands as an example of a Christ-honoring, God-glorifying father who fought and successfully did the same thing.

By all standards he was a great businessman.

But even more so, he was a great father because he was committed to making much of Jesus in order to lead his children to the True Father.

By all accounts Truett Cathy was a genuinely pious man who loved Jesus and taught his children to love Jesus and to live pure and holy lives.

This morning, God is going to use the first few verses in Job to admonish and encourage our fathers to do the same thing.

Through Job’s example, you will see that,

God favors fathers who ritually practice their genuine piety to teach their children pure and holy living.

Job, as a prosperous and pious man, will show you there are four commitment every father should have if he is going to be faithful to God and his family.

Be a Faithful example in Your Piety (Job 1:1)

The land of Uz is unknown.

Genesis 36:28 and Lam 4:21 suggests that Uz might be near Edom in the south.

However, Genesis 10:22-23, also suggests it might be near Aram in the north.

So, Job was not an Israelite, but he was a man in the east who worshipped Yahweh.

Verse 1 describes Job as a man who was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away evil.

What you see here is that Job was a genuinely pious man.

What can we learn about Job’s piety?

Jobs piety made him a man of innocence.

His piety meant that he valued God’s purity.

That is what is meant by the word “blameless.”

The Hebrew word used here indicates purity before God, but not perfection.

It is a word used to describe animals that were to be used for sacrifice (Exodus 29:1; Lev 1:3).

When the word is appleid to people, it indicates integrity and innocence.

Job’s piety made him a man of integrity.

The word “upright” refers to something that is level, like a plumbline (Isaiah 26:7; Jer 31:9).

It indicates honesty and righteousness (Psalm 11:7; Proverbs 11:6).

To be upright is to be obedient to God (Exodus 15:26; Deut 6:18).

Jobs piety made him a man of reverent obedience.

Job feared the Lord.

The word “fear” carries many meanings in Hebrew.

It can include fright and scare.

But the fear of the Lord in Job’s context is more of a reverent respect that moved him to obey God.

Job was in awe of God, totally devoted to God’s ways.

His devotion worked itself out in right living that pleased God.

Job’s piety made him a man of wisdom.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The wise seek the Lord and live, while the fool perishes in his folly.

Those who fear the Lord not only walk in his ways, but also turn from evil.

Job wisely shunned evil.

Robert Alden hits the head of the nail when he says,

“Good people turn to God and away from evil.

The good life involves not only the doing of right but also the avoidance of wrong.”

Robert Alden

Job was a pious man.

Job was wholeheartedly committed to the Lord.

He had genuine integrity and walked wisely before God and his neighbor.

His piety was not sinless by nay means.

Job even acknowledged he was a sinner (Job 13:26; 14:16).

But he was consistent and honorable before God.

His piety was no notable that God said of Job to Satan,

Job 1:8 (ESV)

“Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”

The bottom line is Job’s piety was sincere.

His devotion for God was driven by a love for God that manifested itself in outward piety.

His piety was not an outward appearance of godliness that denies the power of God, as Paul tells Timothy 2 Tim 3:5), but an inward reality of godliness in his heart.

What makes Truett Cathy so appealing to me is his outward commitment to his Christian convictions: his commitment to be closed on Sundays, his commitment to God’s design of the family, his desire for his children to covenant with him to protect these convictions, in a world that openly opposes such convictions with hostility.

Truett kept true to his piety, even when the world said it would cost him his business.

The Secret to Pious Living

The temptation that many men, and fathers in general experience, is divided loyalty to the Lord.

In my short walk as a believer, and as a father, where I have failed in my piety is when I allow one foot to be on the dock of the world while trying to keep my other foot on the untethered boat of God’s kingdom.

I am prone to try to hold onto to forbidden things while I am trying to hold onto Christ.

It doesn’t work, and my faithfulness to right living looks shoddy.

This is not only dangerous to me, but is deadly to my children.

Isaac Rankin says there is a secret to living a pious life, a pure life, a life devoted to God the way Job was devoted to God.

Ranken says,

“Living a pure life takes total commitment.

Therefore, we must be very careful: what we hold on to will also hold on to us.” Isaac Rankin

Ranken goes on to say,

“Just out of reach from my window stretches a wire which carries a heavy current of electricity for light and power.

It is carefully insulated at every pole that supports it, and it is carried well out of common reach.…

Yet the doves light (perch) on it and take no harm.…

The secret is that when they touch the full-powered wire they touch nothing else.

The give themselves wholly to it.

My danger would be that while I touched the wire I should also be touching the earth through the walls of my house, and the current would turn my body into a channel for escape.

But they [the doves] rest wholly on the wire and experience neither dread nor danger.

They are one with it, and they are safe.”

There lies the secret to a pious life that is blameless and upright, that fears the Lord and shuns evil.

“Your piety, just like the doves safety, is in complete self-surrender to the Lord’s power and love.

It is when you reach one hand to Him, while yet you keep fast hold on some forbidden thing with the other, that you are in danger.”