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*A PORTRAIT OF FATHERHOOD** *

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1 Thessalonians 2:7-2:12 (NIV, NIRV, TNIV, KJV)

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MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER \\ CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE, TX \\ \\ (Changed e-mail address: Powerpoint slides for this sermon are available at no charge.

Just email me at mnewland@sstelco.com with your request - #106.) \\ \\ A. Do you remember when men were men & you could tell it by looking, when women were the ones who wore earrings & makeup?

Do you remember when men knew who they were & had confidence in themselves & in their God?

They knew where God was leading them, & trusted Him to get them there.

\\ \\ Maybe the problem today is that our modern society has tried to convince women that they can be as masculine as men, & men that they can be as feminine as women.

So we have put them together in one big mixing bowl & mixed them all up until many are no longer sure what their role really is.

\\ \\ B. Father’s Day presents us with an opportunity to look at masculinity once again.

Not the Rambo type who walks with a swagger & cusses like a sailor.

Such men probably make bad neighbors & poor business partners & abusive fathers & husbands.

Nor am I talking about the Archie Bunker type who sits in his chair like a king on a throne, expecting the whole world to revolve around him.

\\ \\ I’m talking about a man who knows he is a man & is proud of that.

But at the same time he has a soft & tender heart that is sensitive to others & to the will of God.

I’m talking about God’s man.

I’m talking about fatherhood the way it ought to be.

\\ \\ C.

Where do you find guidance for that?

Well, the Bible is always the best source.

So I’ve selected a passage from 1 Thessalonians 2 that few would consider to be a Father’s Day text.

But I think it is a good one.

\\ \\ In 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12, Paul says, “…we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.

We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.

Surely you remember, brothers, our toil & hardship; we worked night & day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.

\\ \\ “You are witnesses, & so is God, of how holy, righteous & blameless we were among you who believed.

For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting & urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into His kingdom & glory.”

\\ \\ PROP.

Let me suggest that in these few verses we see a portrait of fatherhood that is worth examining.

And as you look at the portrait, consider with me 5 wonderful traits of a father today.

\\ \\ I. ABLE TO EXPRESS GENUINE LOVE \\ \\ A. The first trait of a father would be the ability to express genuine love.

Notice what Paul says in vs. 8, “We loved you so much.”

In the original language those words expressed an intensity of love that gives over & over again.

Paul says, “It’s hard even to find words to express how much, but we really do love you.”

\\ \\ I think that is an important character trait for fathers because loving & expressing love does not come naturally for most men.

I’m convinced that is the reason the Bible tells husbands to “love” their wives, because we have to learn how to love.

\\ \\ The Bible almost never tells wives to “love” their husbands because that usually comes naturally for them.

Instead, wives are told to “respect” their husbands, because sometimes that is hard to do.

\\ \\ Men, most of us have to learn how to love.

That is true about the father & child relationship, too.

It doesn’t usually come easy for us.

\\ \\ ILL.

Do you remember when you brought your first child home?

Your wife seemed to know what to do.

She knew the head was heavy & that the muscles had not developed in the neck to support it.

So she supported it.

She also knew that the soft spot on top of the head was a place of vulnerability & you had to be really careful about it.

\\ \\ She knew when the baby was hungry, & when its diaper needed to be changed.

And she changed it with skill.

She knew when it was bath time & play time & sleep time.

She knew all those things.

\\ \\ But we men had a lot to learn.

When we first held the baby, at least for many of us, it was an awkward experience.

I didn’t know when the baby was hungry, & when the diaper needed to be changed.

And I was not very skilled at changing diapers, either.

All those things had to be learned.

\\ \\ But soon we get to the place where even if we’re not so good at them, we kind of enjoy them.

We enjoy holding our children & expressing love.

We enjoy playing with them, watching them laugh, & then comforting them when they are in distress.

\\ \\ B. Then what happens?

They grow up, & just about the time you get good at it, it all changes.

\\ \\ ILL.

A couple of years ago the cartoon strip, “For Better or for Worse,” showed Dad coming into the room where his teenage daughter was sitting on the couch watching television & munching popcorn.

So he decided to sit down next to her & help himself to the popcorn.

\\ \\ As he was sitting there, a little thought balloon appears over his head.

He’s thinking, “I remember when she was so young.

I held her in my arms & loved her, & it was wonderful.

Now look at her. She’s all grown up, & such a beautiful girl, too.

I wonder what she would think if I held her like I used to & told her again that I love her?”

He finally concludes that she would be uncomfortable if he did that.

\\ \\ While he’s thinking that, his daughter is thinking, “I wonder why Dad never hugs me anymore?” \\ \\ Isn’t it sad that we have arrived at a time in our culture when there is so much incest & perversion that as Dads we’re not even sure how to express love anymore?

We’re not sure what’s proper & what’s not proper.

\\ \\ C. Our best example of fatherhood, of course, is our Father in heaven.

And the best story to show that is the story of the Prodigal Son.

The reason this is so universally applicable is that virtually everybody experiences what the prodigal son experienced, where we’re sure we know better than our parents.

We have it all figured out.

\\ \\ You know the story.

The son goes off into a far country & squanders all his money.

And when he runs out of money he runs out of friends & ends up in a hog wallow, eating from the slop that is fed to the pigs.

This is the most humiliating place a Jewish boy could possibly be.

\\ \\ As he sits there the Bible says, “He came to himself.”

And he starts thinking, “How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare?

And here I am, starving to death.

I will set out & go back to my father.”

\\ \\ Now notice something important.

He felt that he could go back to his father.

The relationship might never be the same.

But he knew the door was open to him.

\\ \\ How did he know that?

All through the time of raising his son the father had communicated his love.

“No matter how far you go, you can always come back home again.”

That kind of love is a vital thing to communicate to our children.

\\ \\ So he said, “I will say to my father, ‘I have sinned against heaven & against you, & I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired men.”

I think this was a speech he practiced every step of his way back home.

He had it down pat.

\\ \\ But before he could blurt it out his father had run to him & thrown his arms around him & kissed him.