When I was a young father sitting in the pew, Father’s Day sermons always made me feel guilty. I felt I could never live up to that virtuous Christian father so often extolled in such sermons. When I became a pastor I realized I would never have to listen to such sermons again as long as I never preached one! Now here I am in the pulpit on Father’s Day as director of Lutherans For Life about to preach a Father’s Day sermon. As director of Lutherans For Life and dealing with the various life issues day after day, I’ve become more convinced than ever about the importance of Christian fathers and their role in maintaining and promoting the value and dignity of human life.
One of the difficulties in preaching a Father’s Day sermon is that there are so many kinds of fathers. There are you dads who greet your children when you come home from work, hear about their day, maybe attend a ball game or piano recital. There are you divorced dads who may not have your children all the time and get to see them on some sort of scheduled basis. There are dads who are granddads. There are dads of adoptive children. There are some of you who perhaps want to be dads but for whatever reason that blessing has not happened for you yet. There may be dads who are grieving, who have an empty spot in their hearts because of the untimely death of a child or because of a stillbirth or miscarriage. And there may be dads who have empty and painful hearts because of the death of a child through abortion.
How do you talk about the importance of fatherhood without moralizing and making everyone feel guilty—like I used to feel—and without burdening already burdened hearts? Perhaps the place to start is the fatherhood of God. Remember Jesus’ words to Mary? “[G]o to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17b ESV).
We learn two amazing things from these words. First, we have a Father who is God! That gives “father knows best” a divinely important meaning. We should not take lightly His directions concerning the vocation of fatherhood. Fathers are important! There is a section on the bulletin insert that talks about that. Our Father, who is God, gives earthly fathers great responsibility. He asks that fathers provide for and protect their children (2 Corinthians 12:14), discipline them (Hebrews 12:7-11), be good examples (2 Chronicles 17:3), and most important, instruct them in the Lord’s saving Word (Ephesians 6:4). Again, the insert draws our attention to the example of Joseph. He protected Jesus, escaping with Him to Egypt. He worked as a carpenter providing for His family. He performed the spiritual duties of a father making sure Jesus was properly schooled in the Word of God.
So, dads, are you feeling guilty yet? Maybe a little guilt isn’t so bad. Given the importance of this responsibility, it’s good to be reminded of our vocation as fathers. It’s good to recognize our shortcomings and, as my son’s high school football coach use to say, “Let’s crank it up a notch, boys.” We have a heavenly Father who is God, who is saying, “Let’s crank it up a notch, fathers.” Strive to do better. Manage your time better. Use your time better. Give priority to the most important and wonderful vocation you have at the moment, fatherhood. As the father of adult children I can tell you it only lasts a short while. (Then you become granddads and can have the fun without the headaches!) Really, the bottom line is this, dads: What our Father who is God wants more than anything else is to have our children with Him in heaven some day. That is what should guide and focus our attention for the brief time they are entrusted to our care.
And remember, this as the guilty meter continues to rise, our Father who is God does not tell us to “crank it up a notch” and then send us out on the field all on our own. He promises the strength of His abiding presence. “I am with you always,” He says. We can draw courage and hope from that. We can echo the confidence of Paul, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13 NIV) as we strive to be obedient.
Our obedience wavers, however, and sometimes fails miserably. That’s why the second amazing thing we learn from Jesus’ words to Mary is so important. We not only have a Father who is God, we have a God we can call Father! Listen to Paul. ”But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:4-6)
“Abba” is Aramaic and was a term of endearment, a more intimate term often used by children in the home. Our term “daddy” would be comparable. The idea that we finite, reprobate creatures could call the infinite, holy God “daddy” seems incomprehensible and blasphemous. So it would be were it not for our “adoption as sons.” The Son of the Father took our place under the law and bore the curse of the law so that we might be called sons of the Father. Cleansed by His blood, declared holy by His Father, and filled with His Spirit we dare utter, “Abba! Father!”
Under this context of having a God we can call Father, we strive to be obedient to our Father who is God. Neither our successes nor failures as fathers have anything to do with attaining or maintaining our relationship with God as His sons. He has taken care of that. We live as His sons assured of His love, His forgiveness, and eternal life. Do we make mistakes as fathers in carrying out our Father’s will? Yes, frequently. Do we sometimes make very big mistakes, horrible mistakes? Yes. Do any of these exclude us from our Father’s love? No.
This Gospel message speaks loudly to all fathers. Most of us hear it, rejoice in it, lift up our heads, and keep going. But others, especially those who have been involved in an abortion decision, do not always hear this Good News applied to them. So I want to pause here and just talk to those dads. Now to those of you who are thinking, “Why is he taking time to do that? It’ll just make the sermon longer. What are the chances of such a father being among us? This is the Church, we’re Christians.” Well, actually, the chances are pretty good that there is such dad here today. You see there are 3,200 abortions every day in this country. That’s 3,200 dads affected. And 70% of all those who have abortions are Christians. So it’s no long shot that such a dad might be here today. So I have a word for you dads and if there are any moms here today who have been involved in an abortion decision, listen in because the word is the same for you. Welcome! Welcome here with the rest of us sinners. For you see, it’s not the sin of abortion that separates us from our Father in heaven. Sin separates us from our Father. We all stand equally guilty before Him. We all deserve our Father’s anger and punishment. But none of us, none of us get what we deserve. The Son did. God’s Son did. Now we are all declared son’s of the father—cleansed, forgiven, and given the full rights of our Father’s inheritance a place reserved in heaven.
We get to call God “daddy” and it’s under our Daddy’s love that we live our lives. We live under that love as we struggle with our sin, as we make mistakes in raising our kids. We live under that love as we struggle with past mistakes, terrible mistakes, mistakes that just keep haunting us. That struggle takes place not in an effort to “get right” for heaven, but rather as sons and daughters who have been made right for heaven. Recognizing our sins is good. Confessing our sins is good. But we do so under this love that says over and over, richly and daily, “I love you, I forgive you.” “I’m your Father, and, well, you can call me “Dad.”
One of the reasons LFL exists is to reach out to such fathers and to equip and encourage the Lord’s Church and her pastors to do the same. If we never talk about the sin of abortion, then we can never apply the message of God’s Fatherhood in Christ to those hurting because of this sin. They never hear the comfort and hope of being His sons applied to them. But when they realize they too are fully redeemed sons of God in Jesus Christ, their hearts and lives change.
How do you talk about the importance of fatherhood without moralizing and making everyone feel guilty like I used to feel, and without burdening already burdened hearts? Perhaps the place to start is the fatherhood of God. We have a Father who is God. Therefore, what He says about the responsibility of fathers needs to be listened to and put into practice. He knows what He’s talking about! We have a Father who is God. Therefore, what He says to all of us about living our lives as Christians needs to be listened to and put into practice. He knows what He’s talking about! We can all leave here today as a father, a Christian, and say, “I’m going to crank it up a notch.”
But looking at the Fatherhood of God also reminded us that we have a God whom we can call Father. He adopted us in Christ and has given us all the full rights as sons. That means all of us, sons and daughters, live under our Father’s love and forgiveness. We do not live striving for His love, trying to earn His love or be worthy of His love. We do not live striving for His forgiveness, trying to earn it or make up for past mistakes; we live in His love and forgiveness! Everything we do is touched by it and cleansed by it. So don’t leave here feeling guilty fathers or anyone. Leave here knowing that regardless of what may have happened in the past, regardless of what may or may not happen in the future, you have a Father who loves you with an unconditional and eternal love. You have a Father who is God, but because of Jesus Christ and through His Spirit, you can call Him, Dad. Amen.