Today’s message summary of June 16, 2019 from Assistant Pastor Travis Jackson:
A Happy Father’s Day to every one of you!
The first observance of Father’s Day in the United States was in July 5, 1908 in Fairmont, West Virginia. Grace Clayton was mourning the loss of her father, who died in a mining disaster in December 1907 along with over 360 other men. Of these, 250 of them were fathers, and they left behind about a thousand children.
The honoring of those men who lost their lives sparked the eventual push to recognize fathers what we now know as Father’s Day. Efforts to establish Father’s Day were attempted a few more times in the following years, but it wasn’t until President Lyndon Johnson issued a presidential proclamation in 1966 to designate the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day, and later President Richard Nixon made it a national holiday by signing it into law into 1972.*
How can we look at today’s celebration of Father’s Day from a biblical perspective? Start with God the Father Himself.
God is the Father of everything. He is the creator of everything, and He has given men the spiritual obligation to be fathers.
Isaiah 64:8
But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
When it comes to making pottery, the handler shapes what is being made according to his or her own style. That’s exactly what God has done with each of us, and He does it according to His own pleasure.
Isaiah 45:11-13
Thus says the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
“Ask me of things to come;
will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands?
I made the earth
and created man on it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded all their host.
I have stirred him up in righteousness,
and I will make all his ways level;
he shall build my city
and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,”
says the Lord of hosts.
A father and a mother ultimately are equal under God’s eyes, but each plays a special role within a family.
I want to set forth and show you why God has set forth and show the importance of men being in the household–not just physically but emotionally and spiritually, as well.
For me, I can easily get away and read a book and stay within myself, but it is harder for me to be equally present before my wife. I have something to learn here, too.
1 Corinthians 11:3
But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
This is the framework that God has given us. It is the ideal situation for a family. The wife is under the headship of the husband, and the husband is under the headship of Christ, who comes under God the Father.
Every household has its issues, but we have to come to the conclusion that we all fall short of God’s glory because we sin. The husband has to go directly to Christ in prayer over the entire household, as well as his wife.
A husband is to take care of the household and be present there physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Titus 1:4
To Titus, my true child in a common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
It is natural for young men to look to older men for guidance. It is unfortunate that many young men without fathers will look to gangs for this mentorship. The role of the father cannot be underestimated.
It is safe to say that a man will have difficulty saying that he is the head of a household if he is not present.
If anyone who professes that he wants to be the head of his household, we are to encourage him, even exhort him, to exercise faith and do what he needs to do to match this desire.
It comes down to performance. God is the Father of all, and men must give an account before Him.
Everything here ultimately leads back to God.
Romans 8:12-15
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
We are to be the men that we are called to be; otherwise, we cannot truly call ourselves as fathers.
We are to follow the example of Jesus Christ to be the men that God has fashioned us to be.
*Wikipedia contributors. (2019, June 16). Father’s Day. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:10, June 16, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Father%27s_Day&oldid=902141198
Akron Alliance Fellowship 