Fatherhood

Fatherhood is rooted in the trinity. God is our Father. He is the Father in many ways. He is the Father of glory. EPH 1:16-17 He is the Father is spirits. HEB 12:9; JOB 1:6 c/w JOB 38:6-7 He is the Father of lights. JAS 1:17 He is the Father of all mankind. LUK 3:38; MAL 2:9-10; ACT 17:26 He is the Father of the man Christ Jesus. 1TI 3:16 Through Christ we are brought into a special relationship with God. He is our heavenly Father. He is our Father in regeneration. He is our Father in adoption. EPH 1:3-5; ROM 8:14-15; GAL 4:3-6 Unlike the saints under the law who could not approach God directly, we can boldy approach him through grace in Christ (HEB 4:16). When you find someone crying earnestly from the heart to God as Father, you’ve found a child of God. Our relationship as sons of God demonstrates his great love toward us. 1JN 3:1 The relationship by which God alone makes someone his child is unique to God and should not be attributed to any other. MAT 23:9 Fatherhood is under attack in our culture daily. Many forces are at work, including the prince of darkness, the father of lies. (JOH 8:44) Behind every opposing force to the honor that should be afforded fatherhood is the devil. Something had gone wrong in Israel such that father’s hearts were turned away from their children. Malachi’s final prophecy spoke of the turning of the hearts of the fathers to the children lest God smite the earth with a curse. MAL 4:5-6 When people ignore God’s word, fathers turn to the vices of this world instead of their children which are viewed as a burden instead of a blessing. The children are turned the same vices. John the Baptist’s ministry was to restore proper family relations. This emphasizes the importance of family to the stability of culture. Abandonment of godly fatherhood causes very great destructive forces. Research shows that most destructive cultural forces start with dysfunctional families, which almost always starts with dysfunctional fatherhood. Responsibilities associated with fatherhood Fathers are supposed to be responsible for providing for their family. 1TI 5:8 A father should be a worker, exerting himself, putting food on the table. A father is under responsibility to charge his children. 1TH 2:11 Abraham is exalted in scripture as an exemplary man of faith. He is commended for commanding his children. GEN 18:19 Fathers need to impose boundaries that should not be crossed and they need to inflict punishments when they are crossed. EPH 6:4 Fathers are to be responsible for the spiritual training of their children as well as everyday training. You can’t train a child in the ways of the Lord by not having God in the picture. When a father is in good faith making children do what they ought to do and imposing upon them burdens they can bear, and being reasonable about it, that is no reason for child to be proved to wrath. If the child has a problem by being wrathful over reasonable expectations from a loving father, it is the child that needs to correct himself, not the father. Everyone has an earthy father. Everyone has a father who is imperfect, who did not set the perfect model. No matter what the model is that your father provided you, men have a change to be a better model. Young people cannot use the excuse that their father wasn’t perfect. Nobody has a perfect earthly father. If you will only obey flawless authority, you’ll never obey authority. A father is to be responsible for chastening his children. HEB 12:5-10