[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered as Pastor of Pilgrim Reformed Church in Lexington, NC on Sunday, June 15, 2014. (Our service on June 8th was filled and blessed with the joyful sounds of The LeBeaus, a father and son duet singing Southern gospel music throughout our land.)]
Today I’d like to read from Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia, from the fourth chapter, verses 1 through 7:
1 Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. 3 So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.--Galatians 4:1-7 (NASB)
Let us pray... Happy Father’s Day, Father! On this day when we celebrate, recognize, and commemorate our earthly fathers, it is certainly fitting that we celebrate our heavenly Father as well. May our worship of You this hour be a pleasing gift, and may we continue this worship throughout the week ahead. Speak through me, Lord Jesus, that we might hear Your message. In the glorious name of Jesus Christ our Savior we pray. Amen.
Let me read a little story to you… A family talked Mother into getting a hamster as long as they took care of the creature. Two months later, when Mother was caring for Danny the hamster, she made some phone calls and found a new home for him. She broke the news to the children, and they took it quite well; but they did offer some comments. One of the children remarked, “He’s been around here a long time – we’ll miss him.” Mom agreed, saying, “Yes, but he’s too much work for one person, and since I’m that one person, I say he goes.” Another child offered, “Well, maybe if he wouldn’t eat so much and wouldn’t be so messy, we could keep him.” But Mom was firm. “It’s time to take Danny to his new home now,” she insisted. “Go and get his cage.” With one voice and in tearful outrage the children shouted, “Danny? We thought you said ‘Daddy’!” [“Getting Rid of Daddy”, #371 on page 151 in 1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking.]
Paul tells us that as children, even as heirs to whatever fortune we might inherit, we are still subject to those who are in authority over us. We still have to answer to our parents or whoever they or the law appoint over us. We’re pretty much like slaves even though we will eventually own all that will be handed down to us. In a sense we’re held in bondage to man and to man’s law, just because of our smaller size, our relative weakness, and mainly our inexperience.
Paul is using this talk of our childhood experiences to show how not much changes when we grow into adulthood. We are still subject to those in authority over us; we are still in bondage to man’s law. Have you ever heard the term “wage slave”? Well, Paul is using this little analogy to say that we are little more than children, little more than slaves to the whims and powers of this world.
From that Paul goes on to proclaim that in God’s timing, when the time was just right, God sent His Son into the world. Jesus was born of woman, just like us. He was born under and subject to same laws as us while He walked this earth. But He was born so that He could redeem us and save us from the tyranny of that law.
By Jesus’ day, Jewish religious leaders had added so much to the original Ten Commandments and Moses’ law that no man could ever keep it all. Because of this, no man born subject to that law could ever hope to gain salvation. No man except the Son of Man – Jesus. God knew no man could ever save himself by his works, by complete obedience to the law, so He sent Jesus to save us from the law and to redeem us. In doing so, He adopts us and makes us His very own children.
We’ve seen before, when I did my trial sermon here, where Paul talked about adoption, in Romans 8:15…
Let me read a little story to you… A family talked Mother into getting a hamster as long as they took care of the creature. Two months later, when Mother was caring for Danny the hamster, she made some phone calls and found a new home for him. She broke the news to the children, and they took it quite well; but they did offer some comments. One of the children remarked, “He’s been around here a long time – we’ll miss him.” Mom agreed, saying, “Yes, but he’s too much work for one person, and since I’m that one person, I say he goes.” Another child offered, “Well, maybe if he wouldn’t eat so much and wouldn’t be so messy, we could keep him.” But Mom was firm. “It’s time to take Danny to his new home now,” she insisted. “Go and get his cage.” With one voice and in tearful outrage the children shouted, “Danny? We thought you said ‘Daddy’!” [“Getting Rid of Daddy”, #371 on page 151 in 1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking.]
Paul tells us that as children, even as heirs to whatever fortune we might inherit, we are still subject to those who are in authority over us. We still have to answer to our parents or whoever they or the law appoint over us. We’re pretty much like slaves even though we will eventually own all that will be handed down to us. In a sense we’re held in bondage to man and to man’s law, just because of our smaller size, our relative weakness, and mainly our inexperience.
Paul is using this talk of our childhood experiences to show how not much changes when we grow into adulthood. We are still subject to those in authority over us; we are still in bondage to man’s law. Have you ever heard the term “wage slave”? Well, Paul is using this little analogy to say that we are little more than children, little more than slaves to the whims and powers of this world.
From that Paul goes on to proclaim that in God’s timing, when the time was just right, God sent His Son into the world. Jesus was born of woman, just like us. He was born under and subject to same laws as us while He walked this earth. But He was born so that He could redeem us and save us from the tyranny of that law.
By Jesus’ day, Jewish religious leaders had added so much to the original Ten Commandments and Moses’ law that no man could ever keep it all. Because of this, no man born subject to that law could ever hope to gain salvation. No man except the Son of Man – Jesus. God knew no man could ever save himself by his works, by complete obedience to the law, so He sent Jesus to save us from the law and to redeem us. In doing so, He adopts us and makes us His very own children.
We’ve seen before, when I did my trial sermon here, where Paul talked about adoption, in Romans 8:15…
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”--Romans 8:15 (NASB)
We’ve been adopted, and once adopted, always adopted. You can’t unadopt someone, neither under the laws of God nor the laws of man. As His children, God wants us to be close to Him, to be intimate with Him, to call Him Daddy. That’s what ‘Abba’ means. It is a very familiar term for one’s father, what we would say as ‘Daddy’.
Now our Bible gives us many examples of fathers. There’s Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David, to name just a few. Many, maybe most, of our Biblical father figures were scallywags or scoundrels, or worse. Yet God used them to do incredible things for His kingdom.
Look at David, a man after God’s own heart. He committed adultery. He had the woman’s husband sent on a suicide mission after she became pregnant. His own sons, Absalom and Adonijah, tried to have him killed so they could be king. He doesn’t exactly sound like father-of-the-year material, does he?
And remember Lot, Abraham’s nephew, from the story about Sodom and Gomorrah? After his wife turned into a pillar of salt, he had incestuous relations with both his daughters. To his credit, though, they instigated it all and got him drunk with wine so he didn’t know what he was doing.
And for a New Testament picture of a father, look at King Herod. He killed two of his sons, along with his wife. He thought they were plotting against him, scheming to kill him, and they probably were.
Of course, not every father mentioned in the Bible is a good example of a bad example. Jesus is quite clear and very careful to point this out as recorded by Matthew in chapter 7 of his Gospel, verses 9 through 11, when He says…
Now our Bible gives us many examples of fathers. There’s Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David, to name just a few. Many, maybe most, of our Biblical father figures were scallywags or scoundrels, or worse. Yet God used them to do incredible things for His kingdom.
Look at David, a man after God’s own heart. He committed adultery. He had the woman’s husband sent on a suicide mission after she became pregnant. His own sons, Absalom and Adonijah, tried to have him killed so they could be king. He doesn’t exactly sound like father-of-the-year material, does he?
And remember Lot, Abraham’s nephew, from the story about Sodom and Gomorrah? After his wife turned into a pillar of salt, he had incestuous relations with both his daughters. To his credit, though, they instigated it all and got him drunk with wine so he didn’t know what he was doing.
And for a New Testament picture of a father, look at King Herod. He killed two of his sons, along with his wife. He thought they were plotting against him, scheming to kill him, and they probably were.
Of course, not every father mentioned in the Bible is a good example of a bad example. Jesus is quite clear and very careful to point this out as recorded by Matthew in chapter 7 of his Gospel, verses 9 through 11, when He says…
9 Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
--Matthew 7:9-11 (NASB)
But right there’s the problem. Jesus is talking to us, fathers, when He says, “If you then, being evil…” “Evil” is a pretty strong word. I don’t think any of us Dads here are evil. But we are imperfect, each and every one of us – we’re flawed.
Now just because we’ve been looking at fathers in ancient times doesn’t mean that these scriptures have no meaning for us today. Our news is full of reports about child abuse, both physical and worse, about fathers killing sons and sons killing fathers. We are still living through many of the same problems as our Old and New Testament counterparts.
Even the best of us are imperfect. But God knows that – He understands. The best of us fathers, at least in His eyes, are those who follow Paul’s instructions in chapter 5 of Ephesians to be the spiritual head of our family. The Apostle is quite specific in Ephesians 6:4 when he says…
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.--Ephesians 6:4 (NASB)
The world would tell us we need to be friends with our children – their best buds, their pals. We should let them have their way so they can grow and learn on their own. We should not do anything that might upset them or hurt their fragile egos.
Paul agrees with that to the extent that we should not purposely irritate our kids, not set out with the intent to make them mad, which might cause them to turn from the Lord. Instead we are to lovingly raise them with Christian teaching, instilling Christian discipline.
Here’s a little tidbit of information that I find disappointing, even though it doesn’t really surprise me. A friend and fellow pastor reports that by the time the average American child is 17 years old, he or she has watched 63,000 hours of mass media (such as TV, movies, the Internet), has spent 11,000 hours in school, but has gone to church for only 800 hours. That’s 3700 hours per year, or 70 hours a week, staring at a TV or some other screen. Compare that to 47 hours a year, or less than one hour a week, in church. In my opinion, this indicates that the average American Dad is failing the average American child when it comes to being the spiritual head of the family.
Instilling Christian discipline… I believe the most effective form of discipline is self-discipline. We need to teach our kids how to be self-disciplined. And we do that best, Dads, by example, by showing and exercising self-discipline in all things by our very actions.
Oh, and kids… Don’t think you’re getting off too light. Before he delivers that little lecture to fathers in verse 4, Paul has something for you in verse 1…
The last verse of our message text today tells us that the spirit of adoption by God makes us cry out to Him from our hearts, “Daddy! Father!” And then in the last verse from that scripture in Matthew, Jesus says that if we consider the fact that even we imperfect fathers know how to give good gifts to our children, just think of how much more of what is good our heavenly Father will give us! Our Daddy in heaven, the Creator and Owner of everything there is, can give us anything we could possibly want, more than we can even imagine.
The best gifts, of course, are forgiveness and salvation. How good is our Father that He would allow us to live forever with Him in His great mansion, where we will want for nothing, where there will be no more crying, no more sorrow, no more pain.
So while our Bible gives us many examples of flawed Dads, just like us, it also paints this picture of a perfect father, our perfect Father. This level of perfection is a position even the best of us imperfect earthly fathers can never reach. The good thing for us is we don’t have to. Jesus made all the arrangements for us to be adopted. And now we have the perfect Father. All thanks to Jesus Christ our Lord, our Brother.
Amen.
Let us pray… O perfect Father in heaven, thank You so much for adopting us. Thank You for accepting us into Your great family. May we celebrate each day as Father’s Day as we worship You. Father, we pray in the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and our Brother. Amen.
Paul agrees with that to the extent that we should not purposely irritate our kids, not set out with the intent to make them mad, which might cause them to turn from the Lord. Instead we are to lovingly raise them with Christian teaching, instilling Christian discipline.
Here’s a little tidbit of information that I find disappointing, even though it doesn’t really surprise me. A friend and fellow pastor reports that by the time the average American child is 17 years old, he or she has watched 63,000 hours of mass media (such as TV, movies, the Internet), has spent 11,000 hours in school, but has gone to church for only 800 hours. That’s 3700 hours per year, or 70 hours a week, staring at a TV or some other screen. Compare that to 47 hours a year, or less than one hour a week, in church. In my opinion, this indicates that the average American Dad is failing the average American child when it comes to being the spiritual head of the family.
Instilling Christian discipline… I believe the most effective form of discipline is self-discipline. We need to teach our kids how to be self-disciplined. And we do that best, Dads, by example, by showing and exercising self-discipline in all things by our very actions.
Oh, and kids… Don’t think you’re getting off too light. Before he delivers that little lecture to fathers in verse 4, Paul has something for you in verse 1…
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.--Ephesians 6:1 (NASB)
The best gifts, of course, are forgiveness and salvation. How good is our Father that He would allow us to live forever with Him in His great mansion, where we will want for nothing, where there will be no more crying, no more sorrow, no more pain.
So while our Bible gives us many examples of flawed Dads, just like us, it also paints this picture of a perfect father, our perfect Father. This level of perfection is a position even the best of us imperfect earthly fathers can never reach. The good thing for us is we don’t have to. Jesus made all the arrangements for us to be adopted. And now we have the perfect Father. All thanks to Jesus Christ our Lord, our Brother.
Amen.
Let us pray… O perfect Father in heaven, thank You so much for adopting us. Thank You for accepting us into Your great family. May we celebrate each day as Father’s Day as we worship You. Father, we pray in the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and our Brother. Amen.
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