Being a Father is a Ministry

As a father, I feel Father’s day is least celebrated, hyped holiday on the calendar. Dad’s don’t even get their day. We are thrown in together with GRADS. All over the place, you see Grads & Dad’s. Fathers day spending is nowhere near what people spend on mother’s day. Roughly 21 billion dollars are spent on mother’s day compared to 12 billion on father’s day. As we get ready to celebrate another Father’s day, my thoughts turn to my responsibility as a father. The world may downplay the importance of DAD, but Bible certainly does not. As a father, we are given a responsibility to raise God-fearing kids. Being a father is not an easy job and as we will see even the greatest prophet in Bible failed at it. Parenting does not come naturally to us as it does for a woman. We tend to mess up a lot and as we see in following scripture Moses messed up.
24 And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and [c]cast it at [d]Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” 26 So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a [e]husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision. Exodus 4

This is one of the most shocking scripture in Bible. Not too many people do a sermon on above verses. To give you a background, God met Moses in burning bush. For 40 years Moses was living a mundane life of a shepherd, now suddenly God told him, he was going to lead His people out of Egypt. God told him exactly what the reaction of Pharaoh was going to be and how he is going to harden his heart to the point of sacrificing his firstborn. God had chosen Moses for this incredible mission. But, verse 24 says ” Lord Sought to Kill him.” Why? You see Moses was about to lead people of Israel out of bondage yet his home was not in order. He was on his way to pronounce God’s judgment on Pharaoh. And God is about to kill him when his wife cut off the foreskin of his son and God spared Moses. Before you can go and tell Pharaoh about judgment on his family, your family has been neglected. Your son has not been circumcised. In Genesis 17, God gave a commandment to be circumcised. It is an outward sign of inward belief much like baptism in the new testament. Moses should have known the importance of this act. Why did Moses neglect to circumcise his son? It could be he was just busy and simply it was not a priority for him. How many of us fathers neglect our kids’ spiritual life because we are preoccupied with our vocation. We are too busy doing overtime or furthering our career that we have no time for our children. How much time and energy we expend to make another sale or get another client? Why are we not there for our children, helping him/her to grow in their walk with Christ? Perhaps, you are a father who does not work a lot, but you are preoccupied with Church and/or ministry. Let me tell you all dads; there is no bigger ministry than leading your family. Priority number 1 is to disciple your children, raise them up and train them( proverb 22:6). Sometimes we are so preoccupied with saving the world, feeding the hungry, educating orphans, we neglect our ministry at home. In 1 Peter 4: 17, it says judgment begins from God’s house. God can not use you effectively until your home is in order. Here what Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 3 4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; 5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?. Another reason might have been his wife Zipporah, she was a Mediante and probably did not believe in circumcision. Therefore Moses didn’t circumcise his son to keep peace in the home. And his succumbing nearly cost him his life. Joshua said, “As for me and my household we will serve the Lord” He did not ask his wife’s permission. Fathers, it is your duty & responsibility to take charge of your family. Moses failed to make a similar stand, and God said you are useless to me if you continue to neglect your ministry at home. Zipporah understood what Moses did not. She knew what had to be done and did it. She wouldn’t have had to do it had Moses taken the leadership. Man, like Moses, are you neglecting your responsibility where your wife needs to step in?

So how do we cut off the flesh? A knife is a representation of the word. Hebrew 4: 12 say word is double edge sword. How are you going to deal with all the challenges kids face today? Get in the word and share it with your kids.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 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. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

To share with your kids, you first have to have it in your heart. Are you teaching your children Bible? Is there weekly sharing of the word? When you are driving together, dinner time, family time, you have an opportunity to share the word with them. It is only the word that cuts away the flesh. Oh, you may say, I don’t know bible: well go to church, go to bible study and share what you learn with your kids. There is nothing more important than ministry to your kids. How upset do we get when our child comes home with bad report card or is not doing well in school or sports or music lessons, their spiritual growth is 1000 fold more important, yet we do not give priority to that part of their life. We as fathers are responsible for their spiritual education and walk, not a pastor, church or Sunday school. Many of you might say, this is all great, and I wish I knew this when my kids were young, but now they are teenagers, my kids are just not into it. I say it does not matter. You are the father, take charge of your family. We take time to eat together, vacation together and we are going to take time to honor God together. Carve out time for family devotions, family prayer, and family discussion. The family will be on fire for Lord if the father is leading them. It is never too late to “cut off the flesh.”

Brothers, I write to you not because I am a perfect father but because I have failed as father. I have made countless mistakes in raising my 3 children. There is nothing I can do to change the past, but I can improve moving forward. It is never too late to re-establish or to establish new stronger, closer relationship with your kids. I can spend more time with them. I can share Gospel with them and tell them how God has been faithful in my life. As father we are expected to have all the answers, maybe we put that pressure on ourselves but truth of the matter is we are flawed man and all we can do is point them toward the one who has all the answers, JESUS. I believe key to being a better father is knowing our father in heaven. As you draw closer to Him, he gives you the wisdom to raise your children. He teaches us how to react to bad behavior of our kids. Next time, when you are upset by your child’s action, remember how our father in heaven feels when we disobey. How is your relationship with God the father? If it is broken, fix it. Our children are watching us. And we are teaching them how to walk in faith. Isaac saw the faith of Abraham on mount Mariah. There was no doubt what was priority for Abraham. So as we get ready to celebrate Father’s day, I urge to pray for your children like David prayed for Solomon. Do not be afraid to discipline your kids ( Prov 13:24), spend more time with them (Deuteronomy 6), and lastly raise them up to be a man/woman of faith ( Ephesians 6:4). I wish you all a HAPPY FATHER”S DAY.

I can not let this opportunity go by to remind you if you have not accepted Christ as your savior, Do it NOW. There is no better gift you can give to your Father in heaven. May you all be blessed in Jesus name. Amen