God's Kind of Father
Genesis 18:19
Whatever happened to masculinity? As fathers, we look long and hard for some good role models for our sons. Not necessarily tough guys or muscle men--just men who know that they're men. It seems that our society is trying to redefine the roles of men and women.
In Chuck Swindoll's book Growing Wise in Family Life, he asks the following questions:
Remember when men were men?
Remember when you could tell by looking?
Remember when men knew who they were, liked how they were, and didn't want to be anything but what they were?
Remember when it was the men who boxed and wrestled and bragged about how much they could bench press?
Remember when it was the women who wore the makeup, the earrings and the bikinis?
Remember when it was the men who initiated the contact, and took the lead in a relationship, made lifelong commitments, treated a woman like a lady, and modeled a masculinity that displayed security and stability?
Swindoll goes on to say, "We need fewer spineless wimps who've never disentangled themselves from mama's apron strings, and more clear-thinking, hard-working, straight-talking men who, while tender, thoughtful, and loving, don't feel the need to ask permission for taking charge. I'm convinced that most single ladies would love to have men like that to spend time with...and most wives long to have men like that to share life with. Children especially like having dads like that."
Did you catch that last line? "Children especially like having dads like that." I think Chuck Swindoll is on to something here: Our children are looking to us to be examples of real masculine men. The children of our world are crying out for fathers that are actually wanting to fulfill the masculine role God has intended for them;
Children want fathers who will take on the spiritual leadership of their home.
Children want fathers who will be there when they need them.
Children want fathers who are willing to accept the responsibility that was given them when they became fathers.
Of all the fathers named in the Bible, Abraham stands out as the kind of father God wants every father to be. Concerning Abraham, God said,
Genesis 18:19
(19) For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Abraham was a man of great faith, obedience, generosity, and prayer. He is truly one of the most outstanding men in the Bible and is worthy of being imitated by all men, especially fathers. From Abraham we learn what God's Kind of Father is like.
1st of all, God's Kind of Father is a man with God’s call on his life. Little is known about Abraham's early life. We meet him first in Genesis chapter 11 and then in Genesis 12:1 when God called him to leave his homeland, his family, and his friends to go out to a land God would give him. Abraham responded in faith to God's call without knowing where he was going. God had called Abraham to become the father of a nation (Israel) that would be the channel through whom God would bless the world. And Abraham was obedient to that call.
What a blessing it is for children to have a father and for a wife to have a husband with God's call on his life. When we talk of God "calling" a man we usually think of Him calling someone to the professional ministry. But I am convinced that God's calling rests on every father. It is a calling to raise your children in the way God wants you to.
Turn with me to Ephesians 6:4
Ephesians 6:4
(4) And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
The phrase “bring them up” literally means "to rear up to maturity". Every one of us is called by God to raise our children in the way of the Lord. All fathers might not be called to preach, or be a missionary, but all fathers are called to be an emissary of the gospel in their own home.
“A man in Chicago made it a practice to stop in the bar for a drink or two on his way to work. One morning as he walked toward the bar in the newly fallen snow, he heard a small voice behind him saying, "Daddy, I'm A' comin in your steps". It was the voice of his young son as he tried to place his feet in his dad's footprints in the snow. The man cried out to the Lord: "Oh, God, if my boy is coming in my steps, by Your help, I'll track them in another direction."”
Fathers, may I remind you that whether you like it or not, your children will be more like you than any other man in the world. We can influence our children for bad or for good. If my tracks lead to sinful behavior, I can bet my children will follow in that behavior. If my tracks lead to godly living, most likely my children will also live godly lives. We have to be careful where our tracks lead our children.
2ndly, God's kind of father is a man with God’s blessing in his life. God greatly blessed faithful Abraham. He made him the leader of a great nation through whom the Saviour would come. God also blessed Abraham with Canaan as his and his descendants homeland. Finally, God blessed Abraham with the promised son, Isaac, in Abraham and Sarah's old age (Abe was 100 and Sarah was 90). What a great blessing Isaac inherited to be born in godly Abraham's home and to be reared by a father of such great faith. Abraham responded to the blessings of God by passing those blessings on to his son.
“Ensign Neal Anderson Scott, the son of a Presbyterian minister in Goldsboro North Carolina, enlisted in the navy during WWII. His ship was hit by a Japanese suicide plane during a sea battle. Neal Scott was mortally wounded. As he lay dying he said, "Mates, keep those guns firing." Then he penned a letter to his parents that said: "To have had you and mother for these 24 years has been all I could ask for in this world."”
What a tribute to his mom and dad. What a tribute to God that all children could have that kind of parents. Our world would be a better place; our streets would be safer; and our children would be happier, more secure, and more productive. God's kind of father takes the blessings that God has given to him and uses them to bless his own children.
3rdly, we learn that God's kind of Father is a man with gracious spirit. In Genesis chapter 13 when a conflict arose between Abraham's herdsmen and Lot's herdsman over the inadequate supply of water and grass on the mountainsides, Abraham graciously offered Lot the choice of territories. Whatever Lot did not choose, Abraham willingly would take.
Later, in Genesis chapter 21 when conflict arose in the home over Hagar and Ishmael, Abraham exercised a warm, loving, gracious spirit. In spite of very difficult and uncomfortable circumstances, Abraham sought to be kind and generous to all his family.
Of all the qualities a godly father ought to have, a gracious spirit ought to be close to the top. Very likely, Issac learned his gracious, patient spirit, from his godly father Abraham.
“One evening a father came home from work to find that his boy had been sent to bed for swearing. The father stormed up the stairs, vowing to teach his son a lesson. On the way, he tripped on a step and skinned his shin. When he did, he began to curse loudly and violently. His wife said: "You better come down now. He's had enough for his first lesson."”
Is that the lesson our children learn from us, or do they learn the lesson of a gracious, loving, kind, and Godly spirit.
I've noticed something that my children do that has made me somewhat uncomfortable. They tend to react to things in the same way they have seen me react in similar situations. If I react with anger, they tend to react with anger in similar circumstances in their own lives. The good news is, if I react with loving kindness and grace, they tend to do the same. So if we want our children to have a gracious spirit, one way of seeing that accomplished is to give them an example of a gracious spirit in our own lives so that they will have a pattern in which they can follow.
4thly, God's Kind of Father is a man of great prayer. What higher wish could children have than to know that their father was holding them up in daily prayer? I have made it a personal practice to pray for my children every day. I pray for their welfare, but more importantly, I pray that they will grow up to be the Christian's God intends for them to be.
We know that Abraham was a man of prayer. In Genesis chapter 15 his prayer is recorded for us concerning the promised son. In Genesis chapter 17 he prayed for the welfare of his son Ishmael. In Genesis chapter 18 he prayed about the threatened destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yes, Abraham was a man of prayer.
Lastly, God's Kind of Father is a man of great faith. With all of Abraham's great traits, the trait the Bible singles out for special praise is his faith. Paul emphasizes this when he writes in Hebrews 11:8-17,
Hebrews 11:8-17
(8) By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
(9) By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
(10) For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
(11) Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
(12) Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
(13) These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
(14) For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
(15) And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
(16) But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
(17) By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
And most importantly we find in Genesis 15:6 and later repeated in the New Testament. "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Abraham's faith placed him in a saving relationship with God the Father.
What child would not long for a dad who by faith had become a child of God, who was living by faith, and who was attempting to lead his family in a faith walk with God? That child would never have to fear the abuse and neglect many children receive from their fathers. Instead, the child could be sure of kind and loving treatment.
In Closing,
It is a small wonder that James 2:23 tells us that Abraham was called "God's friend." Few men have lived that have stood as tall as he. But most of us fathers could come closer to this great man of God if we tried. I know of no heavier responsibility and no greater privilege than to be a father: to help mold a life for God and society. In this great work we truly need God's help. We need Abraham's gracious spirit, his obedient heart, his great faith, and his devoted prayer life. If we have this other things will fall into place.
If we will weave the threads that were Abraham's life into the fabric of our own, we will be God's kind of fathers. And our children will express the feelings of a little boy who walked one day beside his father. The little boy said: "Papa, when you go to heaven, will you take me with you?" "Why, son?" the father replied. "Cause I want to go with you" was the child's simple, earnest reply.
Let’s Pray