June 18, 2006

Confirmation / Father’s Day

With a timid voice and idolizing eyes, the little boy greeted his father as he returned from work: "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?"  Greatly surprised, but glaring at his boy, the father said: "Look, son, not even your mother knows that. Don’t bother me now, I’m tired."  "But Daddy, just tell me, please! How much do you make an hour?" the boy insisted.  The father, giving up, finally replied: "Twenty dollars an hour."  "Okay, Daddy, could you loan me ten dollars?" the boy asked.  Greatly disturbed, the restless father yelled: "So that was the reason you asked how much I earn??  Go to sleep and don’t bother me anymore!"

Later that night the father was thinking about what he had said, and was feeling guilty. Maybe, he thought, his son wanted to buy something.  Finally, trying to ease his mind, the father went to his son’s room.  "Are you asleep, son?" asked the father.  "No, Daddy, why?" replied the boy, partially asleep.  "Here’s the money you asked for earlier," the father said.  "Thanks, Daddy!" rejoiced the son, while putting his hand under his pillow and removing some money.  "Now I have enough!  Now I have twenty dollars!" the boy said to his father, who was gazing at his son, confused at what his son just said.  "Daddy, could you sell me one hour of your time?"

One of the most important things that fathers, and parents, can give their children is time.  In all of our busyness today, how often don’t we neglect to give our children time?  Would we all have to admit that we are guilty?  Maybe your child hasn’t offered you money for your time yet, but they do offer all kinds of things to tell us they would like more of our time.  They drop hints everywhere.  They follow us around.  They try to imitate us.  And sometimes they even misbehave if that’s what it takes to get our attention.  They need our time.

But not just any time.  They need certain things to happen during that time.  They need us, parents, to teach them about God.  To teach them about the love God showed us through his own Son.  And that takes time!  Verse 19: “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  Do you see that?  If we are going to teach our children about God, it is going to take time!  It means we are going to sit down with our kids, walk around with them, teaching and talking, and beginning and ending the day with them.  From the time we get up to the time we go to bed, our job as fathers, as parents, is teaching our children about God.

Teaching them about God is done in two ways.  One is a bit structured, like the way that the parents of our confirmands today have been teaching them.  Getting trained and equipped to sit down and teach the children certain lessons about God’s truths each week.  Also, family devotion and prayer times.  And then, there is the less structured way of teaching.  Since children are watching their parents constantly to learn from them, everything we do as fathers and as parents teaches our children about who we are and about who God is.

I read about a small boy who was consistently late coming home from school. His parents warned him one day that he must be home on time that afternoon, but nevertheless he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said nothing. At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass of water. He looked at his father’s plate that was full of food, and then at his father, but his father remained silent. The boy was crushed.

The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy’s plate and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put it in front of the boy, and smiled at his son. When that boy grew to be a man, he said, "All my life I’ve known what God is like by what my father did that night."

As fathers and mothers, our most important job is to teach our children about the love of God.  We need to teach our children about the grace and forgiveness God showed us by sending his Son here to take what we deserved and give us what He deserved.  Jesus took our sins away and gave us the promise of eternal life in heaven!  Our children need to know about that love of Christ.  They need to know that because of Jesus, they are forgiven when they fail.  And the rest of us, parents included, need to know that Jesus has forgiven us for all the times we have failed.   For the times our children thought they had to “buy” our time.  For our failures in parenting.  For all our failures before God.  We are forgiven by our loving Father!

Let’s share that with our children.  The most important teaching about God that our children get is the teaching they get at home.  Parents, you don’t think that the pastors or teachers at church have a greater impact on your children than you do, do you?  I was recently talking with my 5-year-old son, and asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up.  “Do you think you maybe will want to become a pastor?”  “No way!  I don’t know all the things you would have to know!”  “Yeah, but you would go to ‘pastor school’ to learn those things.  If you did that, would you want to be a pastor then?”  “No, I don’t think so.”  “So, what would you like to be when you grow up?” I asked.  And he answered, “I want to be a parent, like you.”

I have to admit, no comment has ever made me feel better.  My contributions as a father to my son have made more of an impact on him than my contributions to him as a pastor.  And you parents here today need to know that you will make the greatest impact on your children that anyone ever will!  And the most important development they need in their life, like our confirmands today, is to know about, and come to faith in, and live that faith in, their Lord.  So Teach God’s Words to your Children!  In your words and in your actions!

I heard a touching story about a humble, consecrated pastor whose young son had become very ill. After the boy had undergone an exhaustive series of tests, the father was told the shocking news that his son had a terminal illness. The youngster believed in Jesus as his Savior, so the minister knew that death would take him to heaven; but he wondered how to inform one so young that he soon would die. After earnestly seeking the direction of the Holy Spirit, he went with a heavy heart through the hospital ward to the boy’s bedside.

First he read a passage of Scripture and had a time of prayer with his dear child. Then he gently told him that the doctors could promise him only a few more days to live. "Are you afraid to meet Jesus, my boy?" asked his devout father.  Blinking away a few tears, the little fellow said bravely, "No, not if He’s like you, Dad!"   (Read Text.)   Amen.

 

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