InstaFamily
BIBLICAL FATHERHOOD
Deut 6; Joshua 24; Judges 2
Great Commission Church 5/7/23
Intro: Did you know that America has a fatherlessness problem? According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest numbers, 18.4 million children (1 in 4 under age 18) live without a biological, step-, or adoptive father in the home. Research shows that a father's absence affects children in numerous unfortunate ways, while a father's presence makes a positive difference in the lives of both children and mothers. Those statistics and the conclusion that follows comes from a godless agency of the federal government. They are not wrong. For Christians, we must ask if there is further wisdom and truth to be found in the Scriptures about the magnitude of fatherhood. But not just fatherhood in general – is biblical fatherhood different?
Biblical fatherhood – The impact of a father who lives out of a relationship with God the Father, who is known in the life of Jesus Christ the Son and applied by the Holy Spirit in his life and family relationships. (Norm Wakefield)
Fatherhood is the impact of a man on his children.
The best way to understand a man is to get to know him as a son of his father.
A biblical father is someone who has God as his father (a believer).
Jesus Christ was sent for the purpose of revealing the Father – so when men know Jesus, they learn biblical fatherhood. Jesus shows them His Father.
When God came to earth, He did not come as a Father, but as a Son.
We know the Father by knowing the Son of the Father – it is the Son who knows the Father – important: because we are sons of that same Father. The Lord Jesus shows us how to relate to the perfect Father. It is easier to relate to flaws than perfection!
Message of the Son: God is a Father, and you are His sons.
We learn best about the Father by seeing the love of the Father for the Son and the love of the Son for the Father because that is the same space we are in. “I learn best how to be a father by being a son of the Father.”
Receiving the love of the father should motivate us to want our children to know the love of the father – the best one to take the message is a satisfied customer.
Deut 6:1 “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess,
Deut 6:2 that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
Deut 6:3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’
Heaven’s promises to the person of faith: “that you may observe” the commandments (Deut 6:1)
(a) You will fear the Lord (6:2)
Prov 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
(b) Your days prolonged (6:2)
Proverbs 28:2 Because of the transgression of a land, many are its princes; but by a man of understanding and knowledge right will be prolonged. NKJV
Proverbs 28:2 When a land transgresses, it has many rulers, but with a man of understanding and knowledge, its stability will long continue. ESV
Proverbs 28:2 When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order. NIV
(c) You will multiply greatly (6:3)
Multiply what? Old covenant – humans; New covenant – disciples and righteousness
Deut 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
Deut 6:5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Deut 6:6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
Deut 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
3 unimpeachable characteristics of a biblical father:
He Loves God – his heart is turned to God
Deut 6:5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
He loves God’s word – God’s word is a light for his path in the way he approaches parenting…
Deut 6:6 And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
He makes disciples of his own children – He lives to express the life of Jesus to his children…
Deut 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
“You talk about what you think about; and you think about what you love.” – B. Gray Allison
Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
Malachi 4:6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
Question: What was Joshua’s assessment of the spiritual condition of Israel’s second generation?
Famous exhortation…
Joshua 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
They make a good confession…
Joshua 24:16 So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods;
Joshua 24:17 for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed.
Joshua 24:18 And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.”
A skeptical assessment…
Joshua 24:19 But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
The people insist…
Joshua 24:21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD!”
Joshua challenges the people by their own words…
Joshua 24:22 So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD for yourselves, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses!”
Still not convinced, Joshua makes the people solemnize their commitment with a visible representation of their promise…
Joshua 24:25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
Joshua 24:26 Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
Joshua 24:27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.”
Alternates:
Joshua 24:27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” ESV
Joshua 24:27 Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.” NASB
Answer: “You will not do it.”
Consider the aftermath of the death of Joshua…
What happened to the third generation of Israel?
Judges 2:7 So the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD which He had done for Israel.
Judges 2:8 Now Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died when he was one hundred and ten years old.
Judges 2:9 And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.
Judges 2:10 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.
Answer: They did not believe because they were not fathered. Fatherhood was neglected.
Parallel/consequential verses to Judges 2:10:
Exodus 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Application:
