FATHER'S DAY - BECOMING A SUPER DAD 6-14-08AM By Pastor Thomas
Text: De 11:18 “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. (Reminders) 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: (more reminders) 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. (Things necessary to finding the good life) 22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;”
De 11:26 “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: 28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.”

Intro: There isn’t a whole lot to be said about men in the general population deserving a special day which recognizes their fatherhood. It doesn’t take much of a man to procreate, but it take great personal character and integrity for a man to assume the responsibilities thrust upon him by the act of bringing a new life into this world and to show that he has done an admirable job to become a father deserving of special recognition.
Father’s day was begun in 1910, by a daughter who wanted to honor the sacrifices her father made when he was widowed and took over the raising of her and her siblings. (See bulletin).
The duties of being a GOOD father are extremely challenging in a day when many people assume that a MAN cannot do an acceptable job at raising children as might their mothers. However, in my opinion that is a misnomer. A man who is willing to take the challenge and determine that he will make the necessary personal sacrifices to be a good dad to his child/children, he can be a superior SUPER DAD, or as the new modern description calls him, a great MR. MOM.
To assume that a father cannot do the job is nothing more than sexual profiling based on the prevailing assumption that men CAN’T do the job. That opinion is based on the fact that men most usually will NOT take any responsibility for it if the mother doesn’t insist on it. That has come about because men have traditionally left the nurturing of children up to the wife because he was most preoccupied with hunting and gathering for the family; that is, being the only bread winner. And this works out well. However, in modern times with more women working, and more divorces, or the deaths of the wife in a home, men have had to take over this nurturing factor also.
It isn’t that a man CAN’T do it; but more than likely it is that HE doesn’t want to do it. This may be because he considers child care to be ONLY woman’s work or that it strips him of his masculinity. But for whatever reason, a man’s excuses for refusing his fatherhood duties are all bogus.
Some father’s have never shown love to their offspring because they think that would be unmanly. My dad wasn’t mean to me, but he never made it know to me that he loved me. Dad, tell your children how much they mean to you and that you love them unconditionally.
In the traditional American family of the past, women loved, men cussed! Women nurtured, men went fishing. Women sacrificed, men went to buy a new toy. Women tended to teach the children values, men tended to teach them the ways of the world. All such things have brought us to a new America today in which morals are bankrupt, people are more corrupt, and society doesn’t care much anymore. What is the traditional American home today? It’s whatever anyone says it is! For the majority of society, GONE is the traditional god fearing home of the past. Once our homes finally learned all the right values for the proper cohesion of its members, it all changed into a “do it your way” mentality.
When child rearing is forced upon a man because of circumstances, a MAN can rise to the challenge. It is not an unmanly thing for him to dote on his children, or to take pleasure in loving them, playing with them, or any of the other things we find it needful to do with children. It is not unmanly, it is the right thing to do. Gender has nothing to do with being an efficient parent who loves and cares for the children he has fathered into this world. Raising children is hard work. It is not like going hunting or fishing, or even going to a job for 8 or more hours each day. A mans job may seem like heaven to him when compared to the anxieties connected with child care.
I am not saying that role reversals are always good or bad. But that they are sometimes necessary. According to the Bible, there is still an order to the family hierarchy. God created the man first and is the head of the family, the strongest, and the main provider. Husbands, fathers, here is your mandate:
Col 3:19 “Husbands, love [your] wives, and be not bitter against them.” One of the hardest things for a husband to do is to love his wife as much as he loves himself, preferably more than!
The wife is second in command and is to be in subjection to her husband’s leadership, Gen 3:16, “He shall rule over thee.” She cares for the home and raising the children. Mothers here is your mandate: Tit 2:4 “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,” 1 Pe 3:1 “Likewise, ye wives, [be] in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;” 1Pe 3:5 “For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:” Perhaps THE most difficult thing a wife will ever do is to willingly be in subjection to her husband.
Their children are to be obedient to them both. Young person, your parents are required to correct you. Pr 29:17 “Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.” Here is you scriptural mandate: Col 3:20 “Children, obey [your] parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” Eph 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.”
Children are born with a twisted depraved nature which is rebellious to the core. It will only be tamed by the corrective discipline of both parents and the grace of God in salvation. LISTEN TO ME CHILDREN: if you are now rebellious towards your parents, guardian, or whoever it is you live with, be it a grandparent, aunt, or neighbor, YOU ARE HEADED FOR DISASTER! 1Sa 15:23 “For rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry.”
Back then witchcraft was punishable by death. What this is saying for you today is, that your rebellion to those who have authority over you is a very wicked behavior deserving of severe punishment.
Stubbornness, well, if you are a stubborn child, who refuses to obey, who refuses correction, who will not obey those who have the responsibility to care for you and to guide you in good behavior, be glad you didn’t live under the law of Moses. Deut. 21:18 “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and [that], when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: 19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; 20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son [is] stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; [he is] a glutton, and a drunkard. 21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”
A child should thank God for a parent who cares enough about them to correct their bad behavior. A parent who won’t try to correct a child is due for a shock down the road. Pr 29:15 “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left [to himself] bringeth his mother to shame.”
God’s pattern for the family has gotten all jumbled up in today’s world. Many men are wimpish, some women are assertive, and kids rebellious. Many men have lost their pride of the work ethic, some women have assumed it away from them, and the kids sponge off the parents until they turn over in the bed one day and figure out that if they really want to have a satisfying life, it simply doesn’t work that way. To make them fly, the mama bird has to push her young out of the nest so they’ll search for their own food. Bye, bye, birdie!!
It is true, that the bodies of women are made by God to be more adaptable to child rearing than is a mans. Mama’s lap is more comfortable to a child than a dads. But, that is not saying a man is incapable of caring for a child as a woman does. And it is not saying that a man who does these thing is womanly, or that it is a man doing a thing that is only a woman’s job.
Men, shouldn’t be so macho that they won’t allow themselves to be involved in the child rearing job in their homes. Men are not to assume themselves to be such a macho guys that it is beneath their manly dignity to change a baby’s diaper, to bathe or feed them. Oh, most men would probably rather be out painting a barn, or cleaning their guns, or playing golf, etc. but a child needs to also feel the tender loving touch from dad. And that will make a man a SUPER DAD.
Today is FATHER’S DAY. SUPER DADS’S aren’t born; they are self made.... with God’s help! It is never too late to become a SUPER DAD. Even if some men have failed in their fatherhood duties, there is still time to change; time to start anew; time to put the shoulder to the task; time to prove his manhood. What are you today? A man? Or a Mouse? And don’t say, “please pass the cheese.” Each of us is better than that! God made us to stand tall, to be strong, to have good sense, to make good decisions, to be a good example, to live a decent respectable life before our wives, children, and friends.
A real father does not try to prove his manliness by picking fights, using profanity, being vulgar, clinging to bad habits, or acting foolishly. A real man knows how to love and to respect his wife and family; how to be both a friend and disciplinarian to his children; how to make an honest living in the world; how to KNOW GOD in a personal way through faith in Jesus Christ, and then how to LEAD his family in the same pursuit of faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that’s a SUPER DAD and a SUPER MAN. ARE YOU, THERE YET?