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The views represented on this blog are not necessarily those of Higher Things, nor does Higher Things necessarily endorse them.
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Posted At: 3:47am by Brent Kuhlman
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Second Sunday after Pentecost Trinity Lutheran Church
18 June 2006 Murdock, NE
+ Jesu Juva +
Ephesians 6:4
Fatherhood is in really bad shape. Fatherhood may be quickly going the way of the Dodo Bird and the dinosaur.
What’s driving fatherhood into extinction? Some of the causes are:
1) The rebellion against all authority together with the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Exhibited most clearly by the Woodstock generation. Coupled with that is the Playboy philosophy of 24-7-365 bath-robed, knock out blonde girlfriends at his side senior citizen Hugh Hefner. The Woodstock-Playboy culture has birthed the likes of Howard Stern and Anna Nicole Smith. They all scorn and reject God’s good gifts of marriage and sex within marriage. Men and women now regularly have sexual relations without the confines and commitment of holy marriage. Men father children without any obligation. No responsibility.
That takes us to a second reason why fatherhood is fast becoming like T-Rex: 2) no-fault divorce. Fathers (and mothers) walk away from their duties and responsibilities way too easily. Just like when you’re tired of an old dress or an old car. What do you do with the old dress? The old car? Your old spouse? Get rid of them! It’s the American way!
3) Radical feminism. In this world men are evil. Fatherhood must be destroyed. Now we have as the norm women clergy, the Da Vinci Code’s “the sacred feminine,” lesbianism, same-sex marriage, cloning, sperm banks, and surrogate mothers. So who needs fathers?
Throw in the greed of materialism, infidelity, drug and alcohol abuse, gambling, self-centeredness, laziness, idolatry, and unbelief. No wonder the foundations of fatherhood are being eroded. And our country and communities are feeling the curse of this in broken homes, domestic violence, the chaotic and dark rebellion of children and teens, sexual violence against children, anarchy, and brutal murders like those against the Stocks, Amber Harris, and Jessica O’Grady.
We lose a great deal when we abuse or neglect God’s gift of fatherhood. We lose order, discipline, structure, and headship. Father is the head of the family. By God’s design. Headless families, communities, and countries suffer. Big time.
“Fathers, do not exasperate your children.” Being the head doesn’t mean playing Saddam Hussein in the home. Doesn’t mean being domineering over women and children. Screaming, making threats, bullying, or unleashing your testosterone strength are perversions of being a father. Being the head of the family does not mean always getting your way. Instead, it means being the source of the family’s life. It means giving your life for theirs.
The easy part is begetting children. The hard part is raising them. Preserving them. Protecting the family’s life. Putting their needs first. Dying to your selfish desires. Being the father, the head of the family, is all about loving care. Putting your wants last. Putting your family’s needs first.
This includes the family’s spiritual life. “Fathers, bring your children up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Fathers, this is God’s command to you. Make time for it. Don’t let other things interfere with this specific, direct, and clear command of God. If you do, you put your family in great spiritual peril. You make time for every ball game, every school activity, or whatever else. Why won’t you do the same with church?
And fathers, don’t farm out this responsibility off on the mothers, the pastor, or the Sunday School teachers. This is your responsibility. God’s explicit will for your life as father is to be responsible for your children’s spiritual well being.
Statistically speaking, when the father takes the lead and brings his family to church, 80 percent of the children stick with it. But when the mother has to do it by default, the percentage slips to 40 percent. The kids get it loud and clear. “When I grow up, I can be just like Dad.” Fathers, by word and example, bring your children up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
What do you think is the best gift my father ever gave me? A new ball glove? A ten speed bike? It was passing on the Christian faith to me. Faith in Jesus. Taking the family to church every Sunday. Praying with me at night and at meals. Having family devotions.
Now, some of our fathers were and are broken men. Some have hurt us deeply. Maybe you were abandoned by your father. Maybe your father abused you emotionally, verbally or physically. Perhaps your father neglected you, drank too much, or was never home when it mattered.
Father’s Day can be a day of reconciliation and healing. A time to let Jesus get between you and your father. Jesus died for you. He died for your father. For those who have been hurt by your father, Jesus bore your pain, your suffering, your abandonment, and your abuse on the Cross.
Anger, resentment, grudges, and hatred do not heal. Only the wounds of Jesus bring healing. Bury the wounds of the past in the healing wounds of Jesus. It’s time to use this Father’s Day to see everything through the reconciling death of Jesus.
Jesus brings you and all of us to a true and loving Father. A Father whom you and all of us can call “Father” with delight. A Father to whom we can come in all boldness and confidence like a little child who’s been promised all good things.
We are all children of a father. Some of us are fathers of children. Today is a day for repentance and renewal for both fathers and their children. A day for children to confess their sins against their fathers. A day for fathers to humbly confess their sins against their children. And then, most of all, to speak the words of forgiveness to each other through Jesus the perfect Son of His Father. To be covered in the Blood that flows from Jesus’ wounds at the Supper today. His Blood is the cleansing and restoring medicine of your deep wounds against each other.
A true Father’s Day begins and ends with Jesus. Jesus is the faithful Son who brings us into the loving family of His Father through the Holy Spirit's work in Word and Sacrament. Happy Father’s Day. In the Name of Jesus. Amen
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