The Father Who Speaks – A Bible study for fathers

Note: The numbers in parentheses correspond to the questions in the following section.

The Father Speaks to an Infant

I love you, my little one—so small, 7lb. 6oz.—and so precious. I gave creative power to your father’s sperm in union with your mother’s egg. You were conceived and born—the miracle of life!

What will you become? How long will you live? I could tell you, but this is not the time. Besides, there are some things that it’s better for you not to know. It is more important right now that you are born again and become a redeemed child through baptism. A miracle you are—a saint you are not (1) until you are renewed in the Holy Spirit. (2)

If your father loves you the way I want him to love you, he will help your mother when you wake them both up in the middle of the night with your feeding time cry or with the fretful cry of colic. He will learn to change your diaper, to give you a bath, and to sponge away the dribbles from your mouth. He may not always be in the best mood for these helping hand moments, but it will be easier when he remembers who you are. (3) He will want you to have everything your little body needs. (4) But more than just your body, he will provide for your spiritual welfare also. (5)

Interacting with The Father’s Word

1. Does the doctrine of original sin confine itself to our catechism, (i.e., the less said about it the better) or does the truth impact upon our fatherhood? Read Psalm 51:5.
2. Reflect upon your baptism in the light of Titus 3:4-7. Are baptized fathers better fathers?
3. Can you learn the words of The Father in Psalm 127:3?
4. What can you learn about fathering from Abraham in Genesis 25:5?
5. In the New Testament (Colossians 2:11ff) we learn that the covenant of baptism has replaced the sign of the Old Testament covenant which was circumcision. Can you relate the example of Abraham in Genesis 21:4 to the spiritual role of the Christian father?

The Father Speaks to a Child

I love you—my young curious child. You have survived scraped knees and chicken pox. It won’t be long until you will have to pop a few pimples and scrub away at acne. But again you will survive. How fast you are growing. I made you that way. But some parts of you grow more easily than other parts. As long as you get enough sleep, eat the right food, and receive good medical care, it’s pretty easy for your body to keep growing. But the spirit part of you—that part of you that has to do with your will and how you act—does not grow quite that easily.

The Bible tells you how it was with my Son, Jesus. (1) I want it to be that way for you too. I want your father to take an active part in caring for the spirit part of you, as well as the physical. He should be your teacher. (2) If he is going to teach you my truth, he will need to learn it well from My Word. (3) He will not be able to do a very good job of molding your spirit unless he himself has been shaped in that same mold. (4)

Your father has a big responsibility to carry out. For your sake, while the “clay is still wet,” he should make you his priority. (5) Get him to play ball with you and to teach you how to ride a bike and to help you with your homework. Someday you will want to thank him for teaching you about My Son, Jesus, your Savior from sin, and for training you in the ways of the Lord—My ways!

Interacting with The Father’s Word

1. Read Luke 2:52. Does this pattern fit your child?
2. Consider several practical applications of The Father’s Word in Deuteronomy 6:4-9.
3. Are you a disciple-father who is Word-centered, truth-focused, and free? See John 8:37-38.
4. Consider the molding influence of the vine upon the branches in John 15:4-7. What kind of father branch are you?
5. Proverbs 22:6 is a familiar passage. What kind of training should a father practice?

The Father Speaks to an Adolescent (Teenager)

I love you—so full of life and energy! You can be as colorful as a rainbow and as confusing as a crossword puzzle. You are predictable—except when you are unpredictable. One minute you are ready to take on the world, and the next minute you think the world is taking you on. How you look and how you fit in are often the big issues of your day. Who could have told you how hard it was going to be to make the right moral decisions based on your Christian faith rather than be swept along by social pressure? (1)

Your father could have told you. You need his voice, his wisdom, his support. (2) Sometimes it may seem like he is interfering in your life. In a way, he is. I have given him that responsibility. (3) He has already been down the road you are traveling. He knows how sharp some of the curves can be and how jolting some of the pot holes are. You are on the verge of adulthood, but you’re not quite there. Don’t turn your father off when he wants to counsel you. Don’t pull away when he is reaching out.

Curfews, groundings, and a few other rules have inspired so many versions of your “But it isn’t fair” litany. But before you slam the door and turn up the stereo, listen closely. (4) Listen for the love behind your father’s words. Look for the love that his actions are communicating. Letting you have your way at every turn is not love—that’s indifference or indulgence. If your father loves you, he will set boundaries and sometimes say “No.” He will also speak to you of consequences that follow both good and bad decisions, but he will always be there when you need him. Let my Son show you the way. (5)

Interacting with The Father’s Word

1. Discuss the incident involving Joseph, recorded in Genesis 39:6b-18. Do you think Joseph’s father prepared him for this? Could he have? Can you think of parallel incidents in a contemporary setting? What would be your role as a father?
2. The Father’s exhortation in Proverbs 3:1-2 bears repetition.
3. Read Proverbs 6:20-24. Our teenagers need to know this. Note the similarity with Deuteronomy 6:4-7.
4. Alexander Pope once wrote: “We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so.” The passing of truth from one family generation to the next may not be readily apparent or even seem important to the teenager amidst the surge of his hormones and the double­decibel sound level of his music. We need, however, to recapture The Father’s Word.
5. See Proverbs 4:1-6. How would you relate John 15:9-11 to this snapshot? Is this Law or Gospel?

The Father Speaks to a Young Man

I love you—the rising star of a new generation! You have stepped away from the home that raised you. Some of it you leave behind and some of it you take with you. (1) You have wanted to be independent and on your own. Now you are. How will you handle it? (2) There are decisions to make and no one will make them for you. So many people your age have rejected the church. But they are fervent in their worship of a god who is in their mirror. You are facing a tidal wave of temptation. You can go for the “big bucks” and the chemical highs and the indiscriminate sex. Your masculinity can cover up your insecurities (or your insecurity may be your masculinity). You can use people and the problems of the world to advance yourself. Power, passion, promotion­—is that what you want your life to be?

Why not make a real difference—and be different? (3) Be who you are! (4) I have first claim on you—your baptism has not been revoked. I gave up my Son to die for your sins, and together We have sent the Holy Spirit, through whose power you can resist temptation. I want you to hold up the relationship of marriage according to the way I designed it. (Believe me, it works.) I want you to love your wife the way I love the Church. I want you to value the family and the life of the unborn the way I have expressed value for you.

Yes, this all appears old fashioned when placed alongside media standards and the rhetoric of social engineers. But this is not their world; it’s still Mine! I need young men of faith and vision to stand up and be counted. (5)

Interacting with The Father’s Word

1. What did you leave behind and what did you take with you when you stepped away from your parent’s home? See Proverbs 4:10-13.
2. See Luke 15:11 16. Does this portion of the parable of the prodigal son have a contemporary ring?
3. Titus 2:7 8 offers a practical exhortation to young men. Consider the implications.
4. The Father’s Word is clear in 1 John 2:12 17—be who you are and avoid what you are not!
5. Claim this promise and seek to live accordingly—Isaiah 43:1.

The Father Speaks to a Father

I love you and I want you to be a channel of my love to your family. Parenting is such a privilege—the engendering of life, the nurturing, the disciplining, the anchoring, the releasing—all of this and more is in your hands. The child that I have given you—the children that you are raising—handle with lots of TLC! Do not become an abusing parent. Although patience may not be your virtue, it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Pray for patience with your children. Do not let go of the privilege of prayer, merely reducing it to a chore.

It was a blissful moment of marital union when I first made you a father. An act of love begets life and with life there comes some big time fathering responsibilities. Will you be the spiritual head of your family, as I intend you to be—one who leads family devotions, a man of prayer, setting the example of public worship, providing for Christian instruction and receiving that instruction yourself?

What kind of values will you share with your family? Will you let them become free thinkers choosing their own values? Will you let Planned Parenthood types teach them that sex before marriage is normal and that “safe sex” is responsible? (1) Will you let them conclude that abortion must be moral because it’s legal? Will you excuse their permissiveness to the influence of friends, the public schools, or the social climate of the day? (2)

You are a father. (3) Do not abdicate your role to the voices of darkness or the purveyors of evil. (4) Draw upon My Word for strength. Find encouragement in the resourcefulness of others who share the Christian faith. Distill My wisdom into the lives of those whom you love. (5)

Interacting with The Father’s Word

1. The Father’s warning against sexual indulgence and an exhortation to marital faithfulness is clearly spoken in Proverbs 5.
2. Are you confident that your children will say “No”? Should condoms and birth control pills be a father’s gift of protection to his high school and college age children?
3. Does Ephesians 6:4 describe your fathering? How do you achieve the balance that this verse sets forth?
4. Be alert to spiritual warfare. Your fathering as a Christian will be under attack. Consider the reality expressed in Ephesians 6:10-12.
5. This is the gift of protection for your children—Proverbs 8:10-11.

The Father Speaks to a Grandfather

I love you—your faithfulness has been an example to many. There is more of life on this earth behind than ahead of you. But until I call you to your heavenly home, your wisdom and experience can still benefit your children and your grandchildren. You can be a model to them of Christian endurance. (1) You have probably heard some of the talk that is going around about the burden the elderly place on the rest of society and what an expense it is becoming to keep these so-called “non productive members of society” alive. As questions about the allocation of health care resources get tossed around, euthanasia begins to creep into the discussion. When your taxes paid the social security bill for others, it was fine. Now, when others have to pay for you, they begin to speak of you as a “disposable thing” rather than a person.

Yes, it will be infinitely better in My home, but in the meantime do not despair. My Church will not diminish your value, (2) and I will not abandon you. (3) I have heard your prayer. (4) I have covered your sin. I have loved you with an everlasting love and have prepared a place for you. Your family will always be my family. Let your godly influence continue to be heard and seen. Looking back, you can still affirm to others what I have said and done for you in Christ. Looking ahead, you can encourage others that the best is yet to come! (5)

Interacting with The Father’s Word

1. How would you apply “Christian endurance” to fatherhood in the light of 2 Timothy 4:7-8?
2. Read Proverbs 16:31. What is the value of a grandfather?
3. Share your thoughts concerning the promise set forth in Isaiah 46:3-4.
4. Psalm 71:17-19 captures the spectrum of life. Reflect upon this prayer of old age. (You may want to examine the entire psalm.)
5. Read Psalm 34:8. What does it mean to take refuge in the Lord?

Conclusion

Earlier you examined the parable of the prodigal son, but the reference did not extend to the tender and joyful conclusion. Now look at the rest of the text, Luke 15:17-24. It is in the embrace of the forgiving Father—our heavenly Father Who Speaks to fathers—that this study ends.In so many ways we must confess that we have been fathers of failure and people of immature ways. But now we can begin again, renewed by our Father’s forgiving love in Christ—unconditional, inexhaustible, unfathomable!The Father calls us to Himself. He accepts us as His children through His Son. He calls us again to be fathers!