Men Of Faith #3: Father Abraham

Men Of Faith #3: Father Abraham

Text: Gen 18:19    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.

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Introduction:  A son asked his father some questions about the Bible of which he wasn't too sure he could answer but he was willing to give it a try. 

The son asked, "Who was Noah's wife?"
"Son, that's an easy one, her name was Joan.  You know Joan of Arc."
"Daddy, the preacher preached about Sodom and Gomorah, what was that." 
"Sodom and Gomorah were of course another husband and wife. They were a well know couple almost as famousas Dan and Beersheba."
"Okay, well then I have just one more then, what was the Tower of Babel? 
"Oh, well that is the simplest one yet. It was the place where Solomon kept all his 1000 wives when he couldn’t stand listening to them complain any more.”

    It's not easy having all the right answers as a Dad. We all could use some help some advice.  Dad, if you could sit down and talk with God, the Heavenly Father, what would He tell you about how to succeed as a Dad? Probably He would tell you to look at those men He used to carry out His will in the Bible and uppermost of those would be the man who is called Father Abraham by three of the world’s great peoples. the Jews, the Christians and the many of the Sematic people of the middle east. What were the conditions, the elements that were in Abraham that we as fathers and grandfathers should try and establish with God’s help in our own lives. God would say that if you know me, if spiritually lead your family then I will bless you through your family.

If  You Know Me

 Abraham and God had a personal relationship.

In the Bible Abraham is actually called, "the friend of God."
In Genesis18:1 we read that the Lord himself, came down and visited with Abraham.
 And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;  And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,  And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:  Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:  And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.  And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.  And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.  And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

Abraham had a personal relationship with the Lord. He talked with him, he worshipped him, he prayed to him and in this passage he even breaks bread with him.

The first lesson I can learn then from Abraham as a model father in God’s eyes is that I also must have a personal relationship with God.

Relationship not Just Religion

My goal, my aim must be more than just the regulations, rites and rituals of a religion. God is not as interested in what you do for Him, as much as He is interested in what you do with Him.

Scripture
Isa  29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near [me] with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Mt   15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with [their] lips; but their heart is far from me.
Ho   6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Quote from Tribute by James Dobson.  My Father was a man of many intense loves but his greatest passion was expressed in his love for Jesus Christ.  His very thought and deed were motivated or influenced by his desire to serve his Lord. And I can truthfully say that we were never together without my being drawn closer to God by being in his presence.  Not because he warned me or chastised me, but because his love for the Lord penetrated and shaped my own attitudes.

Did you know that the Official Flower of Father's Day is the Dandelion?

The reason it is the flower for Father’s day is because the more it's trampled the more it flourishes. The root of the dandelion runs deeps and holds firmly in the soil it's planted in. It is also a flower that withers and shrinks when it is not in full sunlight, signifiying that if fathers are to flourish even when trampled on then they must  also have a deep and strong root planted in the soil of God's Love and strengthened and energized by the light of the Son of God.  It is this relationship to the sun and the Son that makes good flowers and good fathers.

Transition:

The first element of being a father that God can use is having a relationship with God. You must be saved, you must walk and talk with Him on a daily intimate level. The next element deals with assuming the proper leadership of your family.

If  You Lead Your Family

The Reason For Leadership Is Their Relationship with God.

Abraham would command, he would instruct, teach and lead, his children and household in order to keep the way of the Lord. His would lead his family to honor, worship and know His God. God chose Abraham because of this very quality.  Abraham would not fail to lead his family in the things of God, in those things that would assure the next generations would still know God.  This task was the most important thing God ever called Abraham to do.

Leading Your Family To God

If you share a relationship with God, then you realize you have a  God given, God commanded responsibility toward your family and the generation that follows. Like Abraham, you as the father, the husband, the grandfather and if the Lord blesses as a great grandfather are called by God to know God and to “keep the way of the Lord.”
It is your primary role as the head of the family and it is the greatest thing, the most important thing God has ever called you to do.

Scripture

Deuteronomy 11:19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates  21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
Ephesians 6:4  And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Illustration:  J C Penney's father didn't laugh.

When he was a teenager, J.C. Penney worked for a grocerman in Hamilton, Missouri.  he liked the work and had plans to make a career of it.  One night he came home and proudly told his family about his "foxy" employer.  The grocer had a practice of mixing low quality coffee with the expensive brand and thus increasing his profit.  Jim laughed as he told the story at the supper table.
    His father didn't' see anything funny about the practice.  "Tell me," he said, "if the grocer found someone palming off an inferior article to him for  the price of the best, do you think he would think they were just being foxy, and laugh about it?"
    Jim's father instructed him to go to the grocer the next day and collect whatever money due him and tell the grocer he wouldn't be working for him any longer.  Jobs were not plentiful, but Mr. Penney world rather his son be unemployed than be associated with a crooked businessman.

James Cash Penney Quote: If a man’s business requires so much of his time the he cannot attend the Sunday morning and evening servies and Wednesday night prayer meeting of his church, then that man has more business than God intended him to have. – J. C. Penney

Transition:

As a father, if I know God and if I lead my family to keep the way of the Lord then using Abraham as my guide, I can expect God to bless my family.

Then I Will Bless

God's blessing upon Abraham's family

God's blessing to and through Abraham would include all the world
Genesis 12: 2-3   And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Through Abraham would come the nation of Israel, and through the nation of Israel would come Jesus Christ, the savior of the world and through Jesus the Savior, the Son of God would come salvation and the hope of eternal life and God started with one faithful father. “He will command his children and household, they will keep the way of the Lord, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken.”

One faithful father in God’s will and plan can bring God’s blessings to everyone around him.
God’s Blessings Upon My Family

Fathers, what blessings of God are waiting for you to fulfill your role of leadership in your family. I believe that just as Abraham was crucial to God’s blessings to all of us, so are you crucial to God’s blessings in your family and in the generation to come. Listen to some of God’s promises.

God's Promises

Proverbs 3:1-4  My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

Ephesians 6:2-3  Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

Listen to another father's understanding of the truth,  as seen in David last words to his son and heir Solomon.

Toward his Children,  1 Chronicles 28:9  And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

Toward his God for his children.  1 Chronicles 29:19 And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all [these things], and to build the palace, [for] the which I have made provision.

Illustration:  Jairus, The father who went to Jesus for healing for his daughter's fever.

Mark 5:22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,  23  And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.  24  And Jesus went with him...

This father realized that his daughter's only hope was Jesus.  He went and found him and then brought Jesus to his daughter.  Father's are you bringing the greatest blessing of all into your family?  Are you bringing Jesus with you when you come home?

Conclusion: 

Are you the kind of father that God can use to bless your family?  Do you have a real, personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ? Can your family see that relationship? Do you realize that you are responsible for bringing up your children according to God's Word?  Do you understand that you are one of the most important channels God has for blessing your family?

A Father’s Prayer

Dear Lord, as I sit beside the bed of my child and watch their sleep, I am overcome by the blessing you have given to me.  How can something this precious be placed in my care?  How can this beautiful creation look at me with eyes so full of admiration and wonder?  How can I live up to the task of not losing that innocent beauty to a world that seeks to destroy it?

Lord, the time I have is so limited and cluttered with demands and deadlines.  Yet when the deadlines pass I can't remember why they were so critical.  While at my feet a child looks up and asks me to play ball or be their horsy, look at their latest crayon masterpiece or just hold them in my lap.  Their Daddy is the most important thing in the world to them.  When will I realize that they must be the most important thing in all the world to me?

Lord, I know that someday they will walk away, no longer a child but a young man, a young woman.  I understand I must release them either to You or to this world.  Will I have been the father you wanted me to be?  Will that child see in me the loving hand, the words of wisdom, the inexhaustible love of you, their Heavenly Father?  Help me to make the time to show my children your love for them through me.  Oh, my God if only one task I accomplish before my life is over, please let it be that my children will know You through me.

I ask this in the name of your own Son. Amen - DKM 1993