For centuries Christians and non-Christians alike were in perfect agreement about the importance of fathers to the well-being of families, neighborhoods, communities, cities, states, and countries. In recent times, that truth has been conveniently ignored in order to keep from casting aspersions on “alternate lifestyles”. As the Church, we need to hold high the mantle of fatherhood. We need to raise our expectations of fathers. We need to hold fathers accountable. Just as importantly, we need to encourage, equip, and honor godly fathering. Fathers cannot substitute “presents” for “presence”. No one else is responsible for your family. You must be present and accounted for. You must fulfill your God ordained responsibilities.
In John 17, Jesus lifted His eyes to heaven and began the High Priestly Prayer, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”(NASU) God the Father glorified God the Son.
Christians, the hour has come! Fatherhood must be exalted first and foremost because every father is intended to be an illustration, a picture, of God the Father. We must stop corrupting this God ordained picture. When we distort this picture, we distort the world’s view of God. God has exalted the office of fatherhood. We must stop demeaning it. Just as God the Father gave authority to Christ, He also gave authority to earthly fathers. As the church we must stop allowing members to abdicate that authority and even worse, misusing that authority.
The church in the U.S. and the nation itself are past the crossroads. We must backtrack to even get to the crossroads. The survival of the family, the church, and the nation is at stake. Fathers must return to exercising loving authority. We raise monsters because we are too lazy and/or self-centered to invest the time to train and discipline our children. Families, schools, churches, and the nation are paying the price for this catastrophic failure. Fathers must become fiscally responsible and teach Biblical principles in dealing with finances. Families, society and the economy are struggling under the weight of millions of people who flounder about financially because they have no idea that the Bible even teaches extensively about money much less what it actually teaches about dealing with money.
Verse 3 above points out that our most important teaching is to know God. Fathers must lead the family in knowing God. Fathers must be actively, consistently, involved in the Biblical training of their children. The gospel message must be taught to children. Many have left the faith not necessarily because they decided it was false, but rather because the truths of the Bible were not adequately taught. The church bears some responsibility in this area but the “buck stops” with fathers. Though not specifically mentioned in this passage, there is another theme found elsewhere in the Bible that must be stressed. Fathers must model and teach the sanctity of the marriage bond. Fathers must lead the family in maintaining good marital and family relationships. This is absolutely indispensable to Biblical fatherhood. Our attitudes toward the marital bond are nothing short of child abuse.
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