Dr. M. Taylor Bach

Exodus 3:1-10 John 15:9-17

Father's Day. Wow! There was a movie years ago that I saw with my children that I just loved. It was called City Slickers. Maybe some of you saw it, too. Billy Crystal and Jack Palance were two of the main characters. It was about a dissatisfied forty something year-old man, a school teacher, who decided that he would go to a dude ranch and learn how to be a cowboy. As they went out on the trail, they discovered that the man taking them out as a guide and instructor was Jack Palance who went by the name of “Curly”. He was kind of a surly old man who was rough and tough and always played with a great big bowie knife. He seemed to convey a great deal of wisdom but he hardly said much. Every now and then, he would just raise his hand (one finger) and would say while gesturing, “Remember just one thing.” But throughout the whole movie, he never did say what that one thing was. So you were scratching your head saying, “What is the one thing? What is the one thing?” As the movie goes on, he dies in the middle of it and leaves these make-believe cowboys to heard cattle back to the dude ranch. They go through all kinds of horrible events. A cow gives birth to a calf and the calf gets swept away in flash flood waters. Billy Crystal's character swims out and saves it. It is a very exciting movie. As I was thinking about Father's Day, I kept thinking about Curly and his 'just one thing'. I thought about what that one thing might be that all dad's would want for Father's Day. I thought about a lot of things dads might like. They might like to know that their children are doing well - at least their grown up children. They would like to know that their children's cars run, their houses are heated or cooled and basic needs are met. They'd like to know that the younger children or the grandchildren are getting an education. But none of these are the one thing, are they? As I thought about this further, I kept thinking & what is it that all fathers would really want, or if they never thought of it, they should want? I concluded it's that their children and grandchildren would become spiritual people and that they ultimately get to heaven & that some day, some where, some way, there is a great reunion of children, parents - fathers and grandfathers all in heaven. That is the one thing that really matters.

There is an example of a father like this who focused on the one thing in the Bible. His name was Jairus. Do you remember Jairus? Jairus was a high-ranking official in the Roman army. He had a daughter who developed a health problem and was near death. So Jairus sought out Jesus. He came to Jesus having heard that Jesus was a miracle worker and a healer. He came to Jesus asking Jesus if he would heal his daughter. You just wondered if his daughter was a teenager whether she thought he was an old “fuddy duddy” or whether she thought that he was corny or silly or something of that nature that teenagers frequently think about their dads when they discover their dads fall off a pedestal and aren't as perfect as they thought they were before the teenage years. But this man sought out one thing. He sought Jesus. As I thought about this, I think there are so many things that we fathers seek besides the one thing that is most important. We fail to seek Jesus. We fail to turn our lives over to him so often and then because we don't seek Jesus, we don't seek God and we fail in other ways. The average parent only spends six minutes a day playing with their children according to a Gallup pole. If we focused on our Christian life and our Christian values, we'd spend a whole lot more time than that. So it is very important that we seek that one thing. We seek their salvation.

God had a Son. His son was Jesus Christ. In the scripture that Tom Matthew read this morning, we discovered that God absolutely loved His son Jesus and Jesus absolutely loves each and every one of us. Jesus commissioned each and every one of us to love one another. So there is that three-fold loving system that God as our heavenly father invented. As we focus on this Father's Day, I would really like us to think about that one thing  that we put God first above all else, that we pray for the salvation of our children, and we work on our own salvation.

There are Biblical guidelines on how to be a good father. The first one from Ephesians 5:28 is Love your Wife. The second one, Colossians 3:21, is&don't expect your children to be perfect. (No brainer!) The third one, Psalm 127  enjoy your children. The fourth one, Proverbs 15  listen to your children. I Timothy 5:8  provide for your family, provide for your children. Ephesians 6:4  train your children to grow up in godliness. I Chronicles 16:11  Don't forget to pray for yourself. Pray that you are going to get to heaven and that you will be as number eight  a positive role model (Proverbs 22:6), so that you can be a positive influence in your children's lives. Lastly, number nine, don't forget to pray for your children every day of your life.

There is one story that I'd like to finish with. It is about an imperfect family - a family that had not yet found God. The story is about a local person. Her name is Crystal Garry. She writes this letter. “I am twenty years old. I am a senior at Scarlet Oaks Vocational School. (That is not far from here.) I am taking up nursing. This year I will be going to Northern Kentucky University to study cardiac nursing. I never thought that I would be graduating from high school because of the past and everything that went on with me in my history. I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. I grew up in Covington, Kentucky. I was born in the projects there. At six years old, I was given up and taken away from my mother because of her drug abuse. I have been through foster homes, group homes, facilities, jails. I've been in and out. At twelve years old, I went to live with my dad after he found out that I was in a foster home. He took custody right away. He moved back to Covington, Kentucky, but he couldn't be there much for me because he had to work so hard. I did not have my mother. My mother was incarcerated. She was on crack cocaine and got arrested so I chose the streets. The streets were there for me. It was everything that I couldn't find in parents. It was people who were there to listen. I skipped school. I did drugs, alcohol, shop lifting, gang banging, hustling, everything. I was in and out of jail for long periods of time. I didn't have any goals for myself. I didn't see myself ever graduating from high school. I didn't see myself hitting eighteen. I didn't see myself getting married. I didn't see myself ever going on for education. I was angry. I would fight at the drop of a dime. I was out of control. It wasn't until I got locked up for a year and six months that I really started to think. I didn't want to keep going down this road so I started to write. After I got out of jail, I went back to Covington and I went back with my dad who believed in me. He tried very hard now to be with me. You can't expect to change just by yourself. You need somebody there, especially when you are young. These young kids need you. Even though I am twenty years old and just now graduating from high school, I am proud because not in a million years did I think I would ever graduate. I thought that I was going to be dead. I thought that I was going to be nothing. I thought that I was going to be a crack-head out on the streets. But I am changing. I am doing it.” That is Crystal Garry. You can see the importance of a father in her life. Finally when her father connected with her, she became something much much better that what she had been. So that fits, too, as we father's connect with God our Father, then we are better able to connect with our children, our grandchildren and everyone that we know and love. So this morning, I want us all to give thanks to God who is our father. Jesus said we can call Him ABBA which is baby talk for daddy. We can have a personal relationship with God who is the perfect father, the father that none of us had who makes up for all the weaknesses in our earthly fathers. He is our Lord. He is our salvation. To Him we owe everything this Father's Day. So as we complete our service this morning, let us give thanks to God our Father and pray also that we all may be good fathers like Him.